Suicide Queen
by NixxyNoxxy
Summary: He left three years ago. He ran from her. Now that he is back everything has changed, and not in the way he was expecting.
1. Chapter 1

Three years, it had been three years since Kakashi had walked up to the gates of Kohona. It was a beautiful sight. The moment it came into his line of vision he placed his book into his back pocket and let his eyes roam over the village that he loved so much. It had changed, but that was to be expected. He had left before all the building was complete from the war and the attack from Pein. It may be different but it also looked so similar. The buildings still all looked new, but the hokage mountain remained exactly the same. Those stone faces were a sight for sore eyes. As he slowly let his eyes roam over the four faces he couldn't help the smile that pulled at his lips. It was good to be home.

It was such a relief to be home, that he almost forgot about the apprehension he felt at the end of his mission. Yes, he wanted to come home, but he was not looking forward to the confrontations upon his arrival. The only person that knew he was leaving for such a long mission was Tsunade. He didn't stop to say good bye to anyone. Nope he just took the mission scroll and ran out as fast as he could. The only farewell that he had made was with his plant Mr. Ukki. Who he left on the welcome mat of Sakura's apartment, asking if she would care for him while he was gone. Or take care of it if he were to never come back. He sighed as he thought of her.

Sakura.

The reason that he had to leave. He could not stay in that village and watch her waste away. She was to marry the Uchiha, and then become his brood mare. That was not what she was meant for. There was more to her then that, so much more. Something he was positive that her husband would never see. Sakura had come up to him one night a little over three years ago. She was so excited with the news that she was getting married. She smiled so brightly and her eyes shone like the sun. Swallowing back his disappointment he smiled back at her, patting her on her shoulder telling her congratulations. The moment she walked away he was running to the Hokage's office to see what long term missions she had available. Kakashi let out a sigh and ran his hand through his silver hair becoming frustrated again at the memory. When he felt the need to run he didn't understand why. He knew the girl was "in love" with Sasuke for years. When he came back after the war he should have been happy for her, getting what she wanted after all this time. He couldn't though. He couldn't, because some how he had started to fall for the girl. He ran because he knew that there would never be a chance of her being with him. He knew that he would have been able to handle her getting together with some one else, any one but Sasuke. He could not watch as she became something that she was not. Not for him. So he took the first long term unclassified mission that he could get and left.

After three years Kakashi hoped that the his feeling would either be gone or at least faded somewhat. He was unsure, but realized the moment he saw her he would know for sure. He prayed that there was nothing left since he really wanted to be home with out her unconsciously torturing him. Perhaps she has changed so much that he would not be able to recognize her. That may be a blessing and curse, he was not sure which it could be. Three years, so that would be what? Two children by now? If they were going at it like rabbits, a third could be on the way. He shook his head, he didn't want to think of pink haired children with red eyes.

He walked through the gates tossing the attendants his mission scroll, they nodded and said to report to the Hokage as soon as possible. He just nodded and threw up his hand and walked away. Report immediately, yeah that was not going to happen. The debriefing will probably take hours, and that was not how he intended to spend his time right now. Not when there were better things to do, like take a lazy walk around the village or perhaps get lost on the road of life. He took his time as he walked through the Shinobi quarters that surrounded the markets and civilian homes. He pushed his hands into his pant pockets and wandered through the market and entertainment area of the village. His gate was slow as he took everything in. He smiled at he watched a squad of shinobi leap from roof top to roof top, as the civilians below ignored them and continues on with their day. It was a pleasant sight, watching the workings of his home. He was walking slowly when out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar face in a nearly empty bar. He lazily walked into the establishment and took a seat next to the senbon chewing man.

"Oh, hey Hatake, long time." Genma said with a lopsided smile, his arm reaching up to give Kakashi a pat on the back.

"Indeed it has been. How have you been Genma?" Kakashi asked as he waved over the bar tender.

"Well, made it home alive and in one piece so I guess I don't have much to complain about." The man said as he finished his bowl of sake, then motioned for a refill.

"Just got back?" Kakashi asked as he began to drink his sake,

"A few hours ago. It wasn't long, they are never very long. They're just...exhausting." Genma pursed his lips before taking another draw from his bowl. Kakashi knitted his brows and really looked at his long lost friend. He did look tired. Dark circles under his eyes, his eyes slightly narrowed. Kakashi took another draw of his sake when he noticed two attractive women walk into the bar and take a seat a few feet away from the two shinobi. He smirked to himself and waited for the pick up line to fall from Genma's mouth. It never came. He actually didn't even look over at the two women. There was no way he could have missed them, and the Genma Kakashi knew would never miss a chance to pick up or hit on a woman. Hell, he would even hit on female enemy shinobi during a fight. This new behavior was not something that he wasn't prepared for.

"So what's new man?" Kakashi asked as he eyed the man who was just staring into his sake bowl.

"Nothing much, just missions, drinking, more missions a bit of sleeping. You know the typical life of a ninja." Genma smirked, but there was something that was off about it.

"No more women? Usually with you it was missions, drinking, and women... Or did the notorious Genma settle down?" Kakashi chuckled, Genma just snorted next to him.

"Yeah, well it's complicated." The senbon ninja sighed and rolled the weapon from one side of his mouth to the other.

"A woman making your life complicated. Never thought I would hear that from you." He watched as Genma finished the rest of his sake them motioned for another.

"Yeah, well I didn't plan on it. Shit happens you know."

"I guess a lot can change in three years." Kakashi mumbled as he finished his bowl.

"Three years, has it really been that long?" Genma's brows shot up as he looked over at Kakashi.

"Yeah, I left right before the Uchiha wedding. Actually it has been three years five months." He waved to the bartender for another sake.

"The Uchiha wedding, huh." Genma drawled slowly. "I guess that would have been three years ago or so." Genma's eyes then moved to look out the window of the bar to the street. "Aw fuck." He drank his sake quickly then slammed down his cash on the bar. "I have to get going. It was good seeing ya man. We'll have to catch up more soon." He patted Kakashi's back.

Kakashi noticed that Genma suddenly stiffened and his mouth moved into a scowl as he looked past him. He followed his eyes to see Sasuke entering the bar. He walked stiffly in donning dirt encrusted jounin gear looking exhausted. Kakashi once again looked back to Genma who stood next to him scowling. What the fuck is that about? He wondered. When had Sasuke have problems with Genma? He sat back and watched as the men stared at each other for a few moments before Sasuke walked up to them.

"Genma." Sasuke nodded his head, making the other man's eyes to narrow.

"Uchiha." The name rolled off the senbon ninjas tongue like a poison. Sasuke just sighed and took a seat next to Kakashi.

"Later man." Genma patted Kakashi and quickly made his way out of the bar, making his eyebrow raise.

"Kakashi, it has been a while." Sasuke said in a half pleasant tone. Kakashi looked over at the dark haired boy, no man, that was sitting next to him. He could see what woman saw in him. He was a pretty boy, dark hair, dark eyes, delicate features, thin eye brows. Hell he could be considered androgynous.

"That it has." Kakashi grunted and sipped his sake. Sasuke waved for the bartender and ordered a beer. "Just get back from a mission?" Sasuke let out a small laugh, that made Kakashi's brow raise. Since when did the last Uchiha laugh? Well there was the time he did laugh like a manic before saying he planned on killing him. Aahh sweet memories.

"How could you tell?" Sasuke smirked at him. Then shook his head. "Yeah, just got back. Been out for two weeks."

"Well, welcome back." Kakashi raised his cup. Sasuke mimicked the action. They both drank and settled into and uncomfortable silence. The older jounin had no clue what to say to the man who was married to the one he wanted to make his. Not to mention the little bastard was acting in a civil manner, and trying to be friendly. How much could have really changed in three years? Could Sasuke have actually developed some type of personality? He sighed, must have been Sakura's influence. They sat there for ten minutes or so, each nursing a drink neither talking. When Sasuke drained his bottle he turned and looked at Kakashi.

"Do you know where Sakura is?" Sasuke asked before he motioned for another beer. Kakashi just looked at him dumbly his brow furrowed.

"No, I have no idea. If I were to guess her location: it would be with you, Naruto or at the hospital." Kakashi shrugged. "How would I know where she is?" Sasuke took a long drawl from his beer and eyed Kakashi. He slowly placed the bottle down then let out a sigh.

"How long have you been home?" Sasuke asked as he raised his brow, watching Kakashi intently.

"A few hours." Kakashi said as he watched Sasuke. This was weird, sitting here having some type of fucked up staring contest with Sasuke. Did he know that Kakashi had feeling for Sakura? Kakashi shook his head breaking the eye contact fist.

"Ah." Sighed Sasuke before finishing his beer. "Well it was good seeing ya Sensei, see ya around." Sasuke threw down a few bills then took his leave. Kakashi watched him leave with narrowed eyes. It felt like he walked into the twilight zone, first Genma not trying to pick up women, then Sasuke being personable, hell even polite AND calling him Sensei. Sasuke had stopped calling him that after he left the village. He sighed and ordered another drink. He should really see the Hokage, but he wasn't sure if he could take any more weirdness. Plus she should know not to expect him any time soon. He'll go tomorrow morning. He had been away for over three years one more day with out a report from him wouldn't hurt. With that idea he quickly drank his sake then ordered another.

Kakashi stumbled to his apartment a few hour later. He had run into some familiar faces at the bar, that said that they were excited to have him home. He just smiled and nodded saying that he was happy to finally was home also. Then they would buy him a drink. Sooo much sake. Too much sake. He knew that he would regret the copious amount of alcohol, but he was never one to turn down a free drink or meal. That lead him to his current state. Drunk and standing in the middle of his apartment. He narrowed his eyes and looked around.

"There should be a lot more dust then this." He murmured as he ran a finger over the ledge of his window. He shrugged and made his way into the kitchen. He opened the cabinet and grabbed a glass, which was remarkably clean and not dust covered, and made his way to the sink and turned on the faucet. The only thing that came out was sputtering noises and the grinding of empty pipes.

"Fuck." He would have to call to get his water turned back on. He stood and glared at the sink before placing the cup down into it. Well the electricity was still on that meant the fridge was still working. He slowly made his way to the fridge and shuddered at the thought of him leaving something in it for three years. There may be a whole eco system in there. Taking a deep breath he slowly opened the door. It was clean. It was really clean and there was a box of bottle water sitting on his bottom shelf. He swayed a bit and stared at the clean fridge. Some one clearly had been in his apartment. He knew it wasn't his land lord, she didn't care about anything as long as she got her payment. Since he had set up direct deposit with her before he left she would have no need to stop by. Who would come into his apartment? Who would get past his seals? Kakashi shook his head, he honestly didn't really care right now. He was just grateful for the water.

Grabbing a few bottles he made his way into his room and laid on his bed and greedily drank the first bottle. He had to get his hydration up, or he knew that he would be praying for death from the gods in the morning. He sighed as he placed the empty bottle on his night stand. He turned his head when he smelled the a faint apple aroma on his pillow. His sheets had been laundered recently also. He furrowed his brows and look up to the cracked ceiling. Who had been here? Naruto? No, he probably only believed in washing his sheets once a year. There would be no way he would have thought to do something like that. Perhaps Sai or Yamato? They both were pretty hygienic. Then a name whispered in the back of his mind. Sakura. No, she wouldn't she has to be too busy with her own home, with her children.

He sighed again and shook his head. It didn't matter who did it. He was grateful. He stretched on his bed and began to try and fall asleep. It wasn't working. It felt odd falling asleep inside. He had slept in trees and on the ground for the past three years, he wasn't use to having four walls surrounding him. He wasn't use to the bed either. It felt amazing but it was not helping him sleep.

After laying in bed for nearly an hour he pulled himself up. He grabbed a few bottles of water and a pillow and climbed to the roof of his building. Thankfully he was on the top floor, so it made his drunken climb a bit easier. He settled himself down and sat and downed a water while surveying the area around him. It was well past midnight and the streets of Kohona were nearly empty and quite. He couldn't help the smirk as he looked around. He was home.

He sat there for a while, contently taking in his surrounding, watching the occasional person walking home. When down the street a figure caught his attention. A woman was limping down the street. She was wearing dark cloths and seemed to be muttering something to herself. As she walked closer Kakashi's brow knit together. It was difficult to tell, but she looked like she had pink hair. No that couldn't be Sakura. He squinted at the woman, but there wasn't enough light to really make out the features. All he could see was pink hair, pale skin, a dark tank top and dark pants. He followed the figure as she made her way. He watched as he turned towards his apartment complex and began to pull herself up the stair. He could no longer see, but he could hear as she struggled to the top floor. Kakashi quietly made his way to the edge of the roof and listened as she walked near his apartment. No she wasn't going to his, but to one two doors down. He silently made his way on the roof to stand right above where the girl stood. He wanted to look over the edge to see if it was her. He sighed. That would look exceptionally creepy.

There was a light knock on the door and everything was still for a moment, before there was a gentle creak of the door opening. Kakashi heard a sigh, then the door opening the rest of the way.

"Sakura." Genma's voice floated up. When did he live in this complex? And what was Sakura doing with him? Kakashi scowled.

"Genma...Please." Kakash closed his eyes at the sound of her voice. Just at the sound of her brought back what he ran from. It was a sound that he always wanted to hear. So much for forgetting about her while he was gone.

"Oh Sakura. You know you should still..."

"Please. Just please." Sakura pleaded. She sounded so desperate. Desperate for Genma? Seriously, what the hell was going on? Kakashi heard the shuffling of feet and then the door shutting. He just stood looking down and snarled at the roof under his feet. Letting out a snort he shook his head and made his way back to his apartment. He didn't sleep much that night. The sound of her voice haunted him.

Kakashi woke up far earlier the he wanted to. The throbbing in his head pulsed harder with every movement. Too much sake. He groaned as he rolled over and looked at his clock. Eight thirty. Three hours of sleep. He sighed and pulled himself out of bed. He made his way to the bathroom and stared down into the empty toilet. That's right no water. Great. That meant no shower. He sighed once more, he was sure that he smelled like a bar. Waking up with a hangover then not being able to wash the smell away had to be the worse feeling that a man could have. He groaned and then went to his closet and pulled out clean clothes and dressed. There was no point in meandering in his apartment any longer with out access to water.

Kakashi began to walk to the stairs of his complex, slowing his pace as he began to pass Genma's apartment. He eyed the window out of the corner of his eye, and saw Genma standing in his kitchen. Genma looked out the window just as he passed then quickly made his way to his front door.

"Hey Hatake! You want to come in for a cup of coffee?" He asked as he leaned in his door frame. Kakashi turned and looked at the man for moment. He then shrugged and walked into the apartment. Genma quickly busied himself and prepared a mug of coffee. He passed it over to Kakashi with a smile.

"So.. When did you move in here?" Kakashi asked as he took the mug and pulled down his mask and took a sip.

"Ahh, probably about two years ago or so. My last landlord sold the property and then jacked up the rates. No way was that place worth what they were asking for." Genma shrugged and sipped his coffee. "Man you smell like a bar." He smirked.

"Water is still turned off, and people were more then generous last night." Kakashi said blandly. His gaze began to grow hard looking at the senbon nin.

"I see." The air was awkward around them, and Gemna had no idea why. They had gone a long time with out seeing each other, but they never had any issues before. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"I saw you had a guest last night." Kakashi said cooly.

"How did you know?" Gemna furrowed his brows.

"I was up on the roof. You know having a hard time sleeping indoors, you know how it goes." Genma nodded as he spoke. "Was it Sakura?" He asked. Genma narrowed his eyes at the silver haired man.

"What does it matter to you?" He asked as he pushed the senbon around his mouth. It mattered greatly to Kakashi, but he wasn't going to let anyone know that.

"Just curious." Kakashi shrugged. Genma continued to stare at him. "So was it her?"

"Yeah, she stopped by." He said nonchalantly.

"What are you thinking, Genma?" Kakashi sighed out. Having a married woman over. Not only a married woman, a Uchiha wife and the apprentice of the Hokage. Kakashi shook his head. "If Tsunade finds out."

"She knows already." Genma scowled at him. Kakashi couldn't help the dry laugh that came out.

"Oh I am sure that the Hokage is more then happy with having her apprentice whoring arou..." Kakashi's breath was pushed out of him as he was slammed into the wall causing him to drop his mug and spill all over himself. His eyes wide as he took in the scene in front of him. Genma's face was inches from his, his mouth scowling, nose flaring, brows furrowed. His fore arm pressed against the silver haired jonin's throat. Kakashi was shocked. It was not often that he was caught off guard, and Genma had definitely done that.

"DON'T!" His breath coming out harshly. "Don't you say a thing about what you don't know or understand." Genma's eyes were hard as he looked at Kakashi. He gave out a snort then released the man from his hold. "You need to go."

"Genma..."

"You need to get out of here right now Kakashi." Kakashi stood and stared at him. "You are not welcome, leave." With a sigh Kakashi picked up his coffee cup and placed it on the kitchen counter and took his leave.

Kakashi walked dumbly back to his apartment to change once again. He ran his hands through his hair as he entered. He had never seen Genma loose himself like that ever. Even on the battle field. If there was one thing about Genma was that he was always cool and collected. Kakashi shook his head. Yes what he said was stupid and his gut twisted at the words he said, but he never expected to be attack from them. And what the hell did he mean that the Hokage knew about the affair he was having with a married woman? That made no sense. There is no way anyone would sanction something like that. What was there to understand? Shaking his head again he quickly dressed in a new jonin outfit. Now he smelled like stale sake and coffee. Great.

Before he made his way to the Hokage's office he went to the water plant and made arrangements to have service turned on in his apartment. Unfortunately they would not be able to get there until late morning. After getting that settled he mosied over to the Hokage's office. Once he got to the top he was greeted with a smiling Shizune.

"Hatake, good to see you. Though you know we were informed that you made it back yesterday. You know that you are supposed to check in right away." She scolded. " Tsunde is with some one right now but if you want to take a seat." She nodded to the chair that was next to the office door. Kakashi just nodded and took seat. He slouched down and pulled out his book. That's when the voices distracted him.

"I can't do it anymore.. Well, at least right now. I need a break from it. You could switch me back to guard duty or something." Genma's voice floated out of the office. Kakashi eyed the door and noticed that it was not closed all the way. He chewed the inside of his cheek and thought about moving away, then he again he was nosy man.

"Have you spoke to Ibiki about this?" Tsunade voice was laced with annoyance.

"Yes and he told me to talk to you."

"Ah, I see. It's like playing parents against each other." She sighed. "Are you wishing to terminate the partnership?"

"Yes..No... I just need at break from the missions. Perhaps a forced vacation for both of us."

"You know they wouldn't listen and go to Ibiki... Very well, I will assign a new partner for now. Though I will keep the two of you registered together. I'll give you six months. Then you can contemplate if you wish to go back." Genma released a long sigh.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"Yeah, yeah, you just created more paperwork for me. Get out of here before I change my mind."

Kakashi heard the footsteps and the slight creak of the door as it opened. The moment Genma saw the copy nin sitting he narrowed his eyes. He stared for a moment then quickly turned and walked away.

"Kakashi, you can go in."Shizune said as she nodded towards the door. He thanked her and stood up, knocking three times before he heard Tsunade beckon him in. He lazily entered the office and stood in front of the desk with is shoulders slouched and hands shoved into his pockets.

"Hokage-sama." Kakashi said with a smirk.

"Ah, nice to have you back Hatake. Though I was expecting you sometime yesterday." Tsunade said as she began to search the draws of her desk.

"I apologize, you see..."

"Save it Hatake. You were gone for three years. You coming in a day late doesn't really matter in the long run.. Ahhh there it is." Tsunade smile broadly as she pulled out a bottle of sake. "Welcome home drink?" Kakashi's stomach turned as he looked at the bottle.

"I am afraid that I had too many welcome home drinks last night. I think that I will pass. Plus a little bit too early for me." He smiled and shrugged at her.

"Suit your self." She opened the bottle and took a long draw. "So are you going to give me a verbal report, or are you just planning on standing there and watching me drink?" She arched a brow at him.

"Ah, yes. Well the mission is complete the syndicate was taken down along with their rivals. The human trafficking operations has been shut down." Kakashi said in a bored tone. Tsunade just sighed.

"You have been gone three years and your verbal report was two sentences?" She shook her head. "Well I want a detailed written report. None of that "I came, I kicked ass, I conquered" bullshit. Do you understand?" Kakashi just grinned at her. Those reports were always true no matter how short they were.

"Understood Hokage-sama." Tsunda narrowed her eyes at him for a moment then took another drag of sake. Once the bottle left her lips a smile pulled at the edges.

"Have you ever though of going back into ANBU?" Tsunade asked as she put the bottle on her desk. She put finger on her chin and gently tapped it.

"Can't say that I have. Jounin missions are plenty dangerous for me." He shrugged and eyed the woman in front of him. Frankly he never wanted to go back into ANBU. He liked the fact that as a Jounin he could choose much of his missions, which was not the case in ANBU. You had to do everything that was asked with out question.

"Would you consider it?"

"No." She sighed at the answer.

"Ok listen, I need some one for a partner for an operative. I can give you a ten percent raise on the mission rates. Actually you wouldn't have to do much just keep an eye on your partner. Would you consider it?" She sighed. There was desperation laced in her voice. Kakashi furrowed his brows.

"You want me to babysit an ANBU? And I will get paid more then the mission?" Kakashi couldn't help the surprise in his.

"Yes. I know that you just got back and probably want some time rest. Which is perfect since this operative was put on leave for a month. This wouldn't be permanent, just until their partner decides to return or some one else can take over." She looked up at him with wide eyes. Wait... Was the Hokage almost begging him?

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because this one is one, if not, is the best that I have. You would be able to easily keep up with them. Not to mention, no one will partner up with them." She sighed and shook her head slowly. Kakashi thought it over. What did he really have to loose? Granted he wasn't one for a partnership, but this didn't sound like one. If Tsunade wants to send out an unstable ANBU that required a babysitter, why wouldn't he take the position. Plus a raise on the already steep pay that an ANBU received.

"I'll accept the position, but only this one time. I will not go back to ANBU on a permanent rotation."

"Understood. I will set up a meeting with you and Ibiki for late this afternoon." She took out an appointment book and flipped through it. "Seems we have a five o'clock available. Dress in your ANBU gear." Kakashi nodded. "Thank you Kakashi. You are dismissed... Don't be late with Ibiki." She lifted her hand and shooed him out of her office.

Kakashi walked out of the Hokage tower and looked up at the suns position. It was twelve thirty, and he had plenty of time to blow. The first thing he did was check to see if his apartment had water. Which he was happy to see was connected once again. He took a long shower washing off the reminates of the night before and once again changing into clean clothes. It was like he was a teenage girl today with the amount of outfits that he had gone through.

Once he was finally clean and socially acceptable he did his grocery shopping and dropped them off at his apartment. When he was done with those errands it was only three. There was one more place that he wanted to visit, and he might as well make it there before his appointment.

Kakashi walked up to the memorial stone and ran his hand over the smooth stone.

"I am sorry that I haven't been around lately. Long mission you know. Over three years. It was the longest time I had ever been away." He sighed and ran his had through his hair. "I am sorry that I didn't come and say goodbye. I had no time... No I did. I just didn't want to face anyone. I ran. I ran like a coward. You know Sakura? Well she got engaged to the Uchiha brat.." He chewed the inside of his cheek. He had accepted his feeling, but never once had he vocalized them to anyone living or dead. "Well, I developed feelings for her, deep feelings. Fuck the deep feelings, I think I am in love with her. I don't know how it happened, it was just one day I saw her differently. She was no longer the child that couldn't defend herself. She grew into such a beautiful woman, inside and out. I observed her for years, each day I grew fonder and fonder of her. Then I knew for sure during the war. I knew that I loved her. I should have told her, instead I ran. It's not because she is younger, or that she was my student. You all know that I don't really mold into social norms. No, it was because her heart belonged to another. One that isn't worthy. I mean he tried to kill her multiple times, then used his sharigan to make her believe that he actually did. I mean if nothing says love like attempted homicide right?" He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I got back yesterday. I should have stopped by sooner, but I got caught up. Things seemed to have changed, and I don't know what is going on. I saw Sakura, well for a brief moment. She didn't know I was there. She was stopping to visit Genma. I don't know what is going on there. Why would a married woman be visiting the biggest play boy of the city? I made a comment about it to him and he basically attacked me telling me not to make comments about what I don't know or understand." He shook his head. "Things seem to have changed more then I thought they would in my absence. I don't know what I am going to do or what is going on anymore. I took a position to babysit an ANBU." He shifted on his feet. "Even after three years, I feel lost. I don't know what to do. I wish you, Sensei, Obito, Rin, were here. I wish you could talk back." He touched the stone, letting his fingers slide over their names. He slowly let his gaze fall to the newest members of the club. Hyuga Negi, aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba. His eyes widened the last name. Haruno Sakura.

He stood there for a while just staring at the name. His chest clenched as he let his fingers run over the name. What the fuck? She can't be dead. No, he saw her last night. Sasuke asked about her. Genma talked about her. Why the hell was her name here? His mind felt stormy and his stomach turned. He tore his gaze from the stone to the sun. He had to go back to his apartment. He had to go and get dressed for his meeting. His eye once again went to her name. He swallowed thickly before making his way back home.

He walked through the ANBU headquarters to Ibiki's office. He hated this place as much as he hated the hospital. They smelled the same of blood, bleach, and suffering. Though while the hospital tried to preserve life, this place was a place that took it on most occasions. He scrunched his nose under his dog mask. He walked to the office at the end of the hallway. He knocked three times and shifted slightly on his feet. Ibiki grunted as he opened the door.

"Ah welcome Wolf. It is good to see you. Your partner should be here in a moment." Ibiki said as he sat behind his desk and began to pull out some paper work. "It has been a while Wolf, what twelve years?" Kakashi nodded.

"Somewhere around there." Kakashi shrugged. Three quick knocks rang from the door.

"Come in." Ibiki grunted. The door opened and a small ANBU operative walked walked in. They were clearly female, ANBU uniforms never left much to the imagination. Though hers was a bit custom. Attached to her skin tight black tank top was a hood that covered her hair. Her mask was a grinning hyena. While most ANBU masks are creepy, this one took the cake. The brows furrowed the grin like a Cheshire cat. It was not something that he would want to see before his death.

"Hyena, glad you could make it." The ANBU limped in and stood next to Kakashi. Not even taking a moment to glance at him. "Hyena, this you new teammate Wolf, Wolf this is Hyena. You two will work together until another alternative is reached." Both ANBU's nodded. "You may unmask." Kakashi was the first to take his mask off, out of the corner of his eye he watched as Hyena pulled down her hood, pink hair flowed out of it. Kakashi had to fight a smirk as relief flooded his body. The stone was wrong. She was alive. Then she slowly pulled her mask off. She turned her head and looked over at Kakashi with a small smile. Change, that seemed too small of a word to describe the woman in front of him. Yes she had her pink hair, and green eyes, but every thing else about her seemed to have changed. Her hair was longer then it was when he left, reaching her mid shoulder. She had shaved the right side of her head, sweeping her hair to the other side. He facial features where now sharper. She had lost all the remaining baby fat that she once had.

"Drop the henge Haruno." Ibiki said gruffly. Her eyes snapped to the scarred man sitting in front of her. Kakashi wondered why she decided to keep her last name She narrowed her eyes a grimace pulling on her lips. She sighed as she her nostril flared. "Don't give me that look, drop it. You know I can't stand that shit in my office." Sakura's eyes rolled to look at Kakashi's for a second then looked forward. She took a breath and dropped her henge.


	2. Chapter 2

It took every ounce of self control for Kakashi not to gasp or stare at the girl next to him in shock. The moment her henge dropped his stomach dropped with it. Slowly she turned her head again to look at him. Something very wrong had happened to her. While her hair was the same color and length as it was before, that was about the only thing that stayed the same. The side of her head that looked like she had shaved it was covered in burn scars. They went from the side of her skull down her cheek onto her jaw, and down her neck disappearing beneath her ANBU tank top. There were two long deep scars that ran from her cheek over the bridge of her nose onto her other cheek. There was a large piece missing out of the shell of her ear. The exposed skin of her arms were riddled with thick scars and burns. Though the most disturbing feature where her eyes. Her left eye was the normal vibrant green it had always been, but the right, there was nothing familiar about it. The iris was large black and in it white specs floated around about. It was like staring into the milky way. It was beautiful in the most disturbing way. She was beautifully disturbing.

"Happy Ibiki?" Sakura turned and glared at the man in front of them. He just let out a heavy sigh.

"Thrilled." Ibiki deadpanned. "Haruno, you know that henges are not to be used in ANBU head quarters as it is. I am sorry but we can't really make an exception on your account." Ibiki ran his massive hand over his head. He looked tired. Which really was no surprise. The man was closing in on sixty, he deserved a break. Sakura just snorted then averted her gaze to the ground muttering something about never unmasking before. Kakashi tried to look away, but couldn't tear his eyes away from her. He was almost overwhelmed with the relief that he felt, but he also knew that he was deep in shock. He knew that a lot had changed since he left, but this is... This is something he, never in a million years, expected. He would have thought that she would be dead before of the chance of seeing her so mutilated.

"You know in every known culture it is considered rude to stare." Her voice was soft but her face was pulled into a hard grimace. She didn't even bother at looking at him, keeping her gaze attached to the floor. Kakashi inwardly sighed and looked back to Ibiki, who was currently letting his gaze flicker back and forward between the two. Kakashi shifted on his feet uncomfortably.

"Ok.. Well, hopefully this will be an easy transition for the two of you since you have worked together before. I would really hate to have to dig for another team mate." Ibiki's eyes narrowed at Sakura. She scoffed and shook her head.

"You wouldn't have to worry about teams or team mates if you just let me go solo. I don't understand what the big issue is." Her tone was bitter as she glared at the man.

"Well, that is not going to happen. Either you take a partner, Haruno, or you retire. It is up to you." Kakashi could not help his brow from furrowing. He had never heard of an ANBU operative that was denied solo missions even if they were a bit unstable... Anko was the perfect example.. They were actually rare to come upon someone that wanted to take that path. "Anyways, since you both got back from long and hard missions, you are required to take a four week break before taking up a new one. I want you to use this time to train and get to know each other again. While this may be a temporary thing, you will be working with each other for a while. Do not even think about taking any Jounin missions either. Do you understand?" Ibiki's eyes briefly went to Kakashi, but mostly stayed on Sakura as he talked. They both nodded and gave out grunts confirming that they were indeed listening. "Ok, if there is nothing else that either of you wish to discuss, you are dismissed." He waved them off as he picked up a file and began to read it.

Kakashi exited the room first then waited on Sakura to come out. The moment that he was in the hallway he took a deep breath and let his body lean on the wall. Rolling his shoulders he took another shaky breath in attempting to gain control of his emotions. Relief, anger, uncertainty, disgust, and joy that he felt from seeing her- being next to her- warred inside of him. He stood there and attempted not to fidget while waiting for her. He swallowed and realized that he was also nervous. He would have laughed if he didn't feel like vomiting. So many questions were running through his head. He wanted to know what happened but knew that he couldn't be out right about it. He rolled his shoulders again attempting to alleviate the stress in his body. While it was only a few moment it felt like hours as he waited for her. Eventually though his attention was drawn to the door as it opened slowly and she limped her way out.

"Sakura," Kakashi tried his best to smile at her, and not stare at anyone place too long. Sakura looked up at him and sighed then cloaked herself in her henge once more.

"Kakashi, it's good to see you. It's been a long time sensei." She smirked at him. Kakashi watched her and couldn't help his eyes from going to her right eye, which was now the familiar green he was use to. Her henge was practically flawless, it was impressive.

"No need for sensei." He smirked at her from under his mask.

"No.. I suppose not, perhaps babysitter, keeper, or handler is a better term." She huffed out. Kakashi just looked at her with his brows drawn in confusion. She snarled a bit before her eyes softened as she looked up at him. "I am sorry, it's not your fault. It really is good to see you. I am happy that you are my temp. It may be like old times." She grinned at him, but it reminded him of Sai's smike. A bit too big to be real.

"I am happy that it was you I am teamed up with also. It will be nice working with some one after such a long solo mission" He smiled back. Her smile faltered for a moment but she quickly recouped and grinned at him again. They stood there and looked at each other. A brief period of awkwardness passed between the two. Sakura rocked for a on the balls of her feet and looked down the hall. She took a deep breath and then puffed out her cheeks. Both were waiting for the other to talk.

"Well I am starving and need to grab something to eat. I was probably just going to hit a food cart, do you want to come?" She asked as she began to walk away. Kakashi quickly flanked next to her.

"I would love to." They walked through the ANBU building not speaking. Sakura looked completely comfortable, but Kakashi... He may have looked at ease, but there was so much inner term oil that was happening in him he found it a miracle that he wasn't running into walls.. He didn't know what to say to her. He just came to the same questions, but where to go? "Hey I haven't seen you in three years, but I noticed that you name was on the cenotaph, and your last name is the same, and you are pretty banged up. Wanna tell me about it." Yeah. That did not seem like a wise idea at all. So he just walked quietly next to her.

Once they were outside Sakura stopped at a grilled squid cart and ordered six. Then she looked over at him and asked if he wanted any. His brow raised at the amount that she asked for, but motioned to the cart owner that he would take two. Once they had their squid Sakura found a bench and took a seat. He followed her lead and sat next to her. She sat happily munching on her squid watching people go by. Kakashi ate slowly, his eyes never leaving her.

"Ok, Hatake here is the deal. I train in the morning. I know that is not your ideal time, but that is when I need it to be done. I use training ground four at seven o'clock till one thirty. Then I train in the dojo with Gia until about four thirty. I am not willing to change or be flexible on these times. So if you don't show on time I will just start with out you. I do not wait." She looked over at him. Her eyes had turned hard, and any warmth that she displayed earlier was no longer there. He watched as be began to eat her last skewer. Then he processed the information she said. She practiced with Gai? He inwardly groaned.

"I understand. I will not make you wait. I promise Sakura-chan." He smiled at her, but her brow went up as he used chan. Three years and he thinks he can be cheeky with her. She shook her head at him.

"I'll believe it when I see it." She stood up from the bench and stretched, small pops from her joints filled the air. Kakashi couldn't help himself from letting his eyes take in her form. With out or with scars she was the most beautiful women that he had ever saw. Once she was done stretching she walked over and disposed of her skewers in the trash. "Well I got to get going. You know places to be people to see..." She began to walk away, then paused and looked over her shoulder at him. "I am happy you are home. I missed you." She walked away throwing her hand in the air with two fingers up. He smirked as she watched her go. Once Sakura was out of sight. He stood and began to run to the Hokage's office like a bat out of hell.

He arrived at the tower quickly and entered through the window, not bothering to walk through the building or use the doors. He jumped into the blonds office with a soft thump. He was not trying to be stealthy. Tsunade lifted her eyes from the scroll she was reading and scowled at him.

"What the fuck happened?" He growled out before she could even say a word. She opened and closed her mouth before narrowing her eyes even further at him.

"Well there are many fucks that could happen in three years. You will have to be more specific Hatake." She arched one brow at him as he scowled at her.

"I just got out of my meeting with Ibiki." He took a step closet to her desk.

"Oh, I see. Met Hyena have you." Tsunade drawled and took out a bottle of sake. "Did Ibiki have you unmask?" She asked as she pulled out two sake bowls.

"Yes." She filled both bowls and slid one towards him on her desk. She drank the contents of her bowl in one swig.

"I take it he also had her drop the henge." She looked up at him and he just nodded. Though he took the sake he was starting to get irritated with beating around the bush. Tsunade just sighed and filled up her glass again.

"I also went to the memorial stone." He said after he drank his sake and pushed the bowl back towards the Hokage.

"I see." She filled up both bowls, she immediately drank hers then leaned back into her chair as she took in a deep breath. "Three years ago Sakura, Sasuke, Kiba, and Shino, where sent out on a mission. It was suppose to be easy, just a escort mission." She cleared her throat and reached forward and grabbed the bottle forgoing the courtesy of using the bowls. She took a long drawl and closed her eyes. "We didn't know, there was no way we knew. We did all security measures possible, some how we didn't look into it enough."

"What didn't you know?" Kakashi attempted not to snarl, but he was getting tired of listening to her prelude.

"It was all a set up. They wanted everyone in that squad. Though Sakura was a high priority. Kiba, and Shino were killed.. She tried to heal them, but before she could finish, she was taken. We don't know how, but I think it was a senbon laced with something... Sasuke completed the mission but wasn't aware that the ones he guarded were the ones that lead to the demise of his team. We assumed that she was dead. We received no ransom demands, no indication that lead us to believe that she was alive. Sasuke reported a large explosion from the site that she was taken from and there was so much blood, her blood...Then again, they were not interesting in trading, they wanted nothing from Kohona besides her."

"Why? Did they want secrets? Why her?" His brows furrowed as he looked at her. He tried to follow what she was saying, but the blood that was pumping hard through his ears.

"No, did you not hear me? Are you not paying attention? They were not interested in Kohona secrets. They were interested in HER." She lifted the bottle again to her lips. "Though at one point they did try and see if they could get anything out of her. I guess for shits and giggles." A small smirk lifted the corner of her mouth. "You know what Hatake, she never broke. I don't know of anyone who had never broke even a little after all that and all that time. She's a tough cookie."

"How much time?"

"A year, six months and seventeen days." Kakashi couldn't help the sharp intake of breath. It was not the longest that he had heard of, but it was the longest he heard of recently. There was also the fact that usually when some one was in captivity for so long, they almost (well not even almost) came back beyond damaged. Often you would not even be able to recognize the person that came back, which would lead to retirement, or a long vacation to a mental ward. How is it possible that she came back "normal?"

"What did they do?" He asked as he felt his hands clench next to his sides.

"I am not going to say exactly. That is up to her if she wants you to know... " Tsunade worried her lip at Kakashi. She didn't feel that it was her place to explain the details. Though the mission was never classified, she didn't want to tell the outcome, but there was one area that the Copy Nin may be of use. "They also used her as a test subject for genjutsu." The blonde grimaced and drank some more sake.

"Genjutsu?"

"Yes.." Kakashi again narrowed his eyes as he watched the Hokaga squirm in her chair. She let out a long sigh "That may be the worst part. Yes, the physical torture was beyond horrendous.."

"Just spit it out already." He said through clenched teeth. Tsunade hesitated for a moment, her gaze clouding as she bit her bottom lip.

"Very few people know about this, but it's something that you may understand more then anyone else in the village..." She let her hand run over her face. "It seems that who ever held her captive... They figured out one that is like the mangekyo. Where time is warped in your mind." She pursed he lip for a moment. "She couldn't break it. she was under for a full day." Kakashi felt his knees becoming weak. He slumped into the chair in front of her desk. One day. He got caught in Itachi's for a few minutes and that equated for seventy two hours. How long was it to her?

"From what Ibiki and Ino figure, in her mind sixty years passed that day." Tsunade said as she carefully watched his response. "So mentally she is nearly eighty." A dry laugh left her mouth "And she can act like a crotchety old lady."

"Why was I not informed?" He asked, staring at the Hokage with a cold look, his jaw ticking as he clenched it.

"You were on a mission, which was of great importance. There was no need to call you back. There was nothing that you could have done." He was about to argue but she cut him off "We had everyone looking, the Inuzukas, the Aburame, Naruto. Every one looked for six months. They found nothing, even in Sage mode Naruto couldn't find her chakra. All calling you back would have made your mission a failure. Also it's a good thing that I didn't call you back." Kakashi snorted at her.

"Why was it a good thing? I could have used my pack. You coul..."

"Are you really questioning the competency of your Hokage Hatake?" The woman slammed her hand down on her desk causing a long crack to form through the middle of it. "Fuck me, Shizune is going to flip about getting another desk." Kakashi just sat there scowling. "You want to know why it's a good thing? Because I believe that you are the one that raided and destroyed the base she was found in." Shock ran through him at her words. He tried to think back to where he was over a year and a half ago. There was one base, and it did seem to be like a prison of some sort. Rumors came that the highest priced "product" was located with in. It was only barely linked to his mission, but once he heard of what was suspected of happening there, he couldn't walk by. Here he had been worried that he would catch flack over going off mission. Which is something that he rarely did.

"No there was no one there. I swept it. I never saw her." His brow furrowed.

"She wasn't in the greatest condition, and she would have looked completely different to you. Her chakra would have been barely there, and it was warped at that time anyways. There would have been nothing familiar to you." She took another drink, she dragged the back of her hand across her taunt mouth. "She's pretty sure it was you." He raked his brain going over all the faced of that building. The prisoners were all were dead. He gasped as he remember a woman, barely dressed, caught under rubble. She had red hair, but that must have been just soaked in blood, and a dead black eye. It wasn't possible. She was dead. He could not feel anything there. Oh god had he really just left her there? Guilt and agony began to wash over him.

"She doesn't blame you, she was grateful. You gave her a chance to escape. Don't you dare blame yourself for anything." She sighed seeing the emotions swirling in his eyes. " Any ways I think I have told you enough. If you want anymore information, please just talk to her. I am sure it would be good for her. Maybe it will be easier for her. Gods knows she doesn't talk to anyone else." Tsunsde began to dismiss him.

"One last thing." He began to stand. "Why did she not take Uchiha as her last name?" Tsunade just raised her brow, then narrowed her eyes. She looked at him for a moment before answering.

"Sakura will never be Uchiha Sakura. That is all I have to say on the matter." Her tone let him know that the conversation was now over. Kakashi walked over to the window and took to the roofs. As he ran home his head felt empty and full at the same time. There was too much information to take in and yet not enough. His chest felt heavy and heart ached for what happened to her. Gods, maybe if he just stayed, would that have happened? Then he thought of why he left, but that never happened. Sakura was not married to Sasuke. What the fuck happened there? They were to be married only a few weeks after he left, and it seems that her abduction happened a month after, why did he leave her? Kakashi felt a mixture of elation and guilt as he thought of her as single. There were far more important things to think of then her marital status. With that he shook his head and ran home to sleep.

Sleep once again was elusive to Kakashi, so he was not to keen on this early training. Though he forced himself up right at sun rise and dragged himself down to the training field, only stopping to get cup of coffee. It was too early for food, even thought it was probably not the smartest idea. Oh well. As Kakashi began to walk into the training ground he looked up at the position of sun and smiled to himself. He was not only on time but early. He strolled down mid field to find Sakura sitting cross legged with her eyes shut. She was so still that he would have thought that she was a statue. He kept advancing waiting for some type of acknowledgment, but she did not give him any. So he climbed up tree and sprawled on a branch and took out his book. He didn't read, his eye kept roaming back to the still figure of Sakura. After a while She took a long deep breath in and slowly cracked open her left eye. Lazily she shifted her vision up the tree until her gaze met Kakashi's. A smile spread across her face as her eye soften as she looked at him. Her body relaxed even further, it looked as if the relief of seeing washed over her as she looked at him... Kakashi smiled back at her, containing the puzzled feeling that he felt at the way she was looking at him. After a few moments Sakura broke eye contact bending over she pulled out an eye patch. It had an one eyed smiley face was painted. She smirked up at him as she stood.

"Holy shit, not only here on time but early." She yelled up at him. Kakashi only looked down and smiled.

"Well I did make a promise.. I don't have much but I do have my word." He pulled himself off of the branch and fell gracefully to the ground with a muffled thump.

"I am impressed, I don't think that you have ever been on time for training." Her smile turned into a small frown as she drew her brows together. "Though don't quote me on that... Maybe there was. I am pretty sure though I am right."

"Oh I am pretty sure that you are also, but you can teach old dogs new tricks." She nodded and gave him a small sad smile. "Nice patch you got there." He nodded at her.

"Thanks, Sai painted it for me. I thought it was funny, but not too many people think that my sense of humor is fitting." She shrugged.

"Why not use a henge like yesterday?"

"Takes too much chakra. The details of the eye and the constant movement, it is just exhausting. I use the patch like eighty percent of the time. " Her hand mindlessly touched the patch. He knew there was probably more to it, but didn't think that he should dig... At least not yet. "Thought I was thinking about using my forehead protector, but that style was kinda already taken." She smirked. "Well shall we start training? I say we start with basics so we can get reacquainted with each others styles. Then we can move on to Ninjutsu, and so on." She stretched as she began to walk to the middle of the field. "Weapons or no?" She looked over her shoulder at him.

"Weapons are ok with me."

Perhaps he should have said no to weapons. The moment he said ok Sakura pulled out two scrolls and sent kunais, senbons, and stars flying at him. Her style has indeed been overhauled. Kakashi darted and blocked as many as he could, a few getting through to non vital places. She charged right after the flying projectile and landed a blow on his side. She had gotten much faster over the years. The training with Gia seemed to be paying off.

After the shock of her initial attack, they fell into a normal spar,volleying blocks and blows back and forth. The longer that they fought though, the more it seemed that there was something off. Kakashi attempted to shake off the idea. He had not seen or fought with or against her in three years. He had to stop thinking that things would fall into place like he never left. That look though. That completely blank look on her face was... unnerving. Even Sasuke would have some type of emotion on his face when he fought. Her eye never left him, but she wasn't looking at him. She was looking past him, or off into space. He grunted as she landed a punch on his shoulder. If she was here, all the way here, and not holding back... Well, he didn't know who would be the victor.

The spar was a quite affair. A long time ago Kakashi was use to the constant banter of team Kakashi. Even the few months that he stayed after Sasuke returned the banter never left. Sakura though, never said a word. The air was filled with the dull thuds of their bodies colliding, the huff of breathe being expelled and the sound of their feet against earth. While it ws comforting, it was also unnerving. These conflicting emotions had been fighting with each other since he came home, and he was sure what to do about them.

Once the sun rose to it's peak high in the after noon sky Kakashi found himself holding Sakura's arm behind her back with a kunai touching the base of her skull. She just lifted her other hand to let him know that she coincide. He let her go as he did she shifted her shoulder rolling them working out the kinks. She turned and flipped her eye patch rubbing the heel of her hand roughly on the socket.

"I brought some lunch if you are hungry. I really should have stopped before and ate something earlier." She mumbled the last part to herself as she began to walk to the tree line and pulled up a bag with boxes of food.

"You cooked?" He tried to repress the smile, but found that he was having a difficult time.

"Ohh, no.. I don't cook. Though if you want to put together a fire, I can burn the shit out of it. For old times sake ya know." She smiled broadly. Through out her tenure in team Kakashi she was only allowed to cook if the rest of the team was too injured. Sometimes even if they were too injured they would often skip a meal. She winked, or perhaps blinked, as she handed him over the box to him. She took a seat by a tree and began to search through a small bag. Kakashi slowly made his way over and sat next to her watching her intently as he opened the box and broke apart his chopsticks.

Sighing as she finally found the case she was looking for, she pulled out the pill container and opened one of the sections and dumped the nine pills in her hand. She kept her eyes averted from Kakashi as she threw them into her mouth and then downed half her water bottle. Quickly she began to open her own lunch and began to eat. Once more silence enveloped them. What surprised him the most was that she was purposely looking away while he ate. Not once had she tried to look at him. Here or when they got the squid skewers. It was kinda of a let down.

"So a lot has changed in three years, ne?" Sakura asked as she scooped some rice into her mouth.

"Yes. I knew it would, but it's far more different then I thought it was going to be." He looked over at her and another vacant look washed over her face

"I know how that goes." She sat for a moment then gently shook her head. She finished the rest of her meal then began to clean up her area. Her head looked up to the sky and she let out a long sigh. "I have to get going, gotta meet Gai." She stood up and began to brush off her pants. Kakashi reached out for her wrist, Her body tensed as she looked down at him. Slowly he released his grip.

"Sorry about that I should not have grabbed you." He said softly, she let out a breath then smiled at him. "Come have dinner with me tonight. I would like to catch up. I also have not been grocery shopping yet, and I hate to eat out alone." He lied as he slowly began to stand up. "Plus I owe you for lunch." He smiled. Her eyes narrowed at bit and her brows drew in as she bit her bottom lip. She stood there contemplating for a moment.

"So you can leave me with the bill. You don't pay do you?" Her question came out soft and uncertain as she looked at him. He just arched his brow and began to scratch the back of his neck.

"Ahh, that is a habit that I have broken. I promise I will pay for myself and you." Relief flooded in her eyes which in turn made Kakashi's eyes narrow. Was she tight on money? He had skipped out of many bills in the past, and yeah his team bitched and moaned but they never had an issue covering his expenses. It was a dick move, but it was awesome to watch their faces from a far off vantage point. She pursed her lips a bit and drew them to the side.

"Ummm, well... What day is it today actually?"

"The twenty..."

"No, no, no. Not the date, but the weekday. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday?" She asked as she shook her head.

"Ummm Tuuuesday?" He slowly drawled.

"Oh, well then we can't do dinner tonight. Though, I will be getting together with some people if you want to join. We go and hand out at the Lazy Kunai on Tuesday. Free billiards and darts." She smiled at him.

"Sure, sounds nice." Kakashi attempted to keep his tone light. Honestly he didn't want to go to the bar with her. He wanted to have time with her alone, and not with the rookie 9, whom he assumed she was meeting with. He reminded himself that: he was home now, they would have time. He was also her partner, so at least that guaranteed some more time together. She looked at him and her smile widened.

"Ok, we usually meet around eight thirty or so. So I will see you there." She reached out hesitantly and patted his shoulder before she turned and began to walk away. "I have to get on my youthful way. See ya later Hatake!" She raised her hand and saluted him with two fingers before she jogged off. He stood and watched as she disappeared from sight. He couldn't help the broad smile that came over him. She was so different, but still so much the same. He knew he missed her, but he didn't realize how much he did.

Kakashi went home and cleaned up after his spar. He had a while before he was going to meet Sakura at the bar so he decided to try and attempt to find his other ex student. He searched for a few hours before he found that Naruto was currently in Suna and not due to be back till late that night. A wave of relief washed over him. He did not want to hear Naruto moan bout the fact that he did not seek him out yesterday or earlier this morning. Don't get him wrong, he respected and loved his sensei's son, but he could be a little much to handle, especially after a mission were he was isolated from humans a good part of it. So since there was no one to track down Kakashi found himself nestled in the ear of his sensei at the Hokage monument, reading his beloved Icha Icha book.

Kakashi found Sakura sitting alone at the Lazy Kunia . He entered the building and was surprised at how old the business looked. While none of the buildings in Kohona were no more then five years old, this place looked like it had been around for decades. It was the quintessential hole in the wall. Where the booze was stiff, the air was smokey, and the patrons were rough. Not a place that Kakashi thought that Sakura would hang out in.

He stood for a moment and just looked at her. She was wearing black ninja pants and a tight black shirt that clung to every curve. Her shoulders were curved in as she leaned into the bar sipping her bowl of sake. He tore his gaze away from her and looked around the bar, no one that he knew seemed to be here. Wait was he actually the first person here? He looked up at the clock, eight forty, only ten minutes late. Where was whoever Sakura was meeting?

His eyes moved back to her just as she turned her head and looked at him with a soft smile. He gave a nod and smirked back at her walking to the bar. "I have to say that I am impressed. Being pretty much on time twice in one day. Get yourself a sake and we'll cheers to being punctual." Her smile became lopsided as she waved for the bar tender.

"Is it really that shocking? I was always on time with missions, you know." He took the bowl of sake that was just places in front of him and took a sip through his mask as he sat on the stool next to her. She snorted at him.

"Every other time you were late! So how do you expect me to think you would be on time now? Hey, you didn't cheers with me!" She moved her knee so it lightly hit his thigh, and lifted her bowl. He repeated her action and brought the bowls together in a sharp clink. They each sipped their drink eyeing each other.

"So this is a interesting bar." Kakashi said as he looked around again. Sakura grinned at him.

"It's my favorite. You know it was completely reconstructed using debris from when Pein attacked." She stroked the wooden bar that was constructed with mismatching planks of wood. "It's old Kohona in one place." She grinned as she watched him once again look around the bar.

"Huh, I wonder if it follows code."

"Oh I am sure it does. Hell, I have been drinking here since I ca... For a while, and nothing has fallen apart. It also survived Rock Lee's drunken fists. I think we are good." She said with a broad smile. Her gaze then shifted to the door, her smile lessened. Kakashi turned and saw a few of Sakura's genin class walking in. He then looked at Sakura with a quizzical look. She sat next to him with a small sad smile as she watched her comrades walk in. A soft sigh left her lips as she took another sip of sake.

"Aren't they who you are meeting here?" Kakashi asked as he watched them take a few tables near the back of the bar. She turned and looked at them again, her eye soft as she observed them. Slowly she shook her head then looked at him. Before she could respond Lee saw them at the bar and walked over.

"Sakura, Kakashi-san, it is wonderful to see you on this beautiful day." He said stiffly. His large brown eyes only falling on Sakura for a moment before he looked forward to the bar tender.

"It it nice to see you Lee-san. I didn't know you came here." Sakura said as she stared at his profile.

"Ah, it was the beautiful Ino's idea. She will be here soon. I am sure that she will be happy to see you." Sakura gave him a nod.

"Anyone else coming?" She asked softly. Lee looked over at her, his eyes softening as he looked at her.

"Yes I believe all of the rookie nine are coming, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai too. I'll have five bottles of sake." Lee said as the bartender stopped in front of him. Sakura's jaw tightened a bit but she forced a smile on her face. The bartender came back with the bottles which Lee took quickly. He murmured a farewell and hurried back to his table. Her gaze fell once more on Kakashi.

"They... They don't know how to be around me." She frowned and chewed her cheek before quickly draining the rest of her sake. Kakashi furrowed his brow as he watched her try to reign in the emotions that flicked through her. He looked back at the table where Lee was sitting with Ten Ten, Choji, Shikamaru, and Hinata. All of them watching Sakura as they talked quietly. "It's fine." She said quietly. Kakashi wondered if she said it for her benefit or his.

"Why wouldn't they know how to be around you? I find that hard to believe." He asked as he shook his head. Why would they have an issue with her?

"They..."

"Hey cyclops!" Sakura jumped as Anko slapped a hand onto her back. She looked over and gave Kakashi a wide grin. "Oh! You making an one eye club are you? Well it will go well with the freak club." She cackled as she flopped in a seat next to Sakura.

"Hey Anko," Sakura smirked and shook her head. "No one eye club, as you can clearly see Kakashi now has two eyes at all time. I seem to have taken up the position of town cyclops." Sakura tapped her eye patch a small scowl appearing on her face. Anko just rolled her eyes. Kakashi couldn't help his eyes narrow as he watched them converse. Anko was not some one that people tended to enjoy the company of. When did they start hanging out?

"Meh, once a cyclops always a cyclops." Anko shrugged, she then leaned over Sakuta and pushed Kakashi on his shoulder ."Hey Hatake, haven't seen you around in a while."

"Mission." Kakashi shrugged.

"Long fucking mission, eh? So why are you here waiting for the mutant club?" She asked as she leaned over the bar. Mutant club? Before he could reply Salura let out a loud sigh and turned towards the loud woman.

"Anko, really?" Sakura leaned in front of her to get her attention.

"What?"

"Senpai?" Kakashi turned to see Tenzo slowly walking up to him. Kakashi smirked and nodded his head.

"Tenzo, how are you?" Kakashi felt relief as his Tenzo took a seat next to him. Hopefully if one thing did not change it would be him, because he was once again feeling that he was in a twilight zone.

"I am good," Tenzo said with a smile picking up a bowl of sake that was place in front of him with out even being order. He looked up to the bar keep smiling with a nod of gratitude. Suddenly he stiffened as he looked at Kakashi weary. "Are you good Kakashi? Everything is okay with you?" He asked hesitantly. And the weirdness took over Tenzo, Kakashi sighed.

"I am okay and good. Why wouldn't I be?" Kakashi asked as he studied Tenzo's taunt expression.

"Just makin sure, so what are you doing at such a fine establishment?" The wood user asked as he began to relax.

"Sakura invited me. She said she was meeting up with some people ." He said as he finished his sake. His body stiffened when he felt something warm leaning on his back. He looked over to see Sakura had disappeared behind him and was reaching for Tenzo.

"Remember Yamato-Senpai, one drink before. After you can have as many as you want. I am serious too!" Sakura yelled behind him. Tenzo face fell as he looked into his almost empty sake bowl.

"Sure thing Sakura-chan. Are we getting started soon?" He asked as he leaned back to look at Sakura.

"As soon as everyone is here, I'll get started."

"Oh so you are waiting for us, that is really sweet cupcake." Suigetsu laughed as he ruffled Sakura's hair. She huffed at him and pushed his hand away.

"Can you not fuck with my hair when ever you see me?" Sakura growled at him. Suigetsu just let his mouth pull in a predatory smile that showed his sharp teeth fully.

"Can't help it, pink hair just screams to be touched. And yours is just so soft." He went to reach for her head again, but his wrist was caught in a massive hand before he could make contact.

"She doesn't like to be touched." Jugo said softly as he appeared behind Suigetsu.

"Relax Jugo, she knows I'm just messin with her." Suigetsu said as he peeled Jugo's hand off of his wrist.

"Ok, since everyone is here, lets get this started so you all can damage your livers." Sakura smiled as she began to open her hip pouch. She pulled out five viles and a hand full of sealed hypodermic needs. "Suigetsu, your first." She smiled broadly at the shark toothed man.

"Sakura-chan, I know you love to get under my skin." He winked at her. He then looked over at Anko and raised his brow.

"What?" Anko asked as she sipped her sake.

"Move it Anko. Unless you want to go first." Anko huffed and moved to the stool next to her. Suigetsu flopped down on the stool facing Sakura and put his arm on the bar. He grabbed the rubber tourniquet and wrapped it on his arm. His movements sure, as if he had done this on a daily basis. Which may be fully possible seeing as long as he was with Orochimaru. Sakura gave him a small smile as she hooked the needle, tubes and vile together. "No Karin today?" Suigetsu asked softly as he averted his gaze as she searched for a vein.

"No, she has hospital duties, and her last sample is still active." She murmured as she cleaned the area then stuck the needle into his arm. Suigetsu looked to the vile as blood pumped into it then looked away.

"Sakura do you really need to use my bar as a medical facility? " The bartender grunted as he walked by.

"Sorry Moshi. I'll get done as quickly as possible." She said sheepishly. She placed a finger on the skin were the needle penetrated and pulled it out. Her finger glowed green for a moment then she pulled it back. "Done. Thank you."

"No problem cupcake. If ya need anything else just let me know." Suigetsu smiled and hopped off the stool. "Yo Moshi! Sake!"

Kakashi watched Sakura draw blood from Anko, Jugo and Tenzo. He really had no clue what was going on. Why would she need samples from all of them, and why wasn't this done in the hospital. That had to be much more sterile and proper. She also seemed so at ease with the group, which he would have never put together. Well maybe that shark kid and Anko, but throw in Tenzo, Sakura, and the giant who was shifting uncomfortably behind Kakashi, and this made no sense.

"Haven't worked it out yet Senpai?" Tenzo asked as he sat on the stool next to him. His hand rubbing the area that Sakura drew his blood from. Kakashi gave a grunt and continued to watch as Sakura talked quietly to Jugo as she took his blood. No, he had not figured it out yet, and it was beginning to bother him. He looked over at Tenzo who had a small grimace on his face. What did they all have in common? What could Sakura be looking for from this group? This unlikely group? He felt like he had all the puzzle pieces but couldn't figure out how to put them all together.

"You missed training, Sakura." A soft voice said from behind Kakashi. What was with everyone standing behind him? That was starting to irate him, no ninja would have felt comfortable with that.

"Sorry Sasuke, I just got busy." Sakura grimaced, but never took her eyes off of the vile that was filling with blood. Kakashi turned to see Sasuke standing behind him looking at Sakura. His eyes almost widened at the look on the boy...no man's face. His features and eyes were soft as he looked at her profile, a look of longing in his eyes? Kakashi raised a brow as Sasuke took a step closer and she subtly shifted away from him.

"You know it is important. Did you train while I was away on my mission?" Sakura sighed as she pulled the needle from Jugo's arm. She sealed the vial and placed in in the small cooler she had pulled out earlier.

"Hinata came by for a bit a few times." She breathed as she put away all of her supplied. "Moshi, can I get a bottle of sake and six bowls here for my friends." She yelled down the bar then finally turned to look at Sasuke. He grimaced as he looked at her eye patch.

"You know that is really distasteful." He said as he pointed to her patch.

"Well take it up with Sai, he is the one that paints on them. I kinda think that it is funny." She shrugged as she started to pour the sake. She took a deep breath. "Sasuke I am sorry I missed today. It's just been hectic since I got back from my last mission."

"What happened at you last mission." At this point Kakashi was dumbfounded. He watched their interaction as one might animals at the zoo. He tried to think of a time when Sasuke had ever talked this much and besides his crazy ranting he couldn't think of one time.

"Nothing big, I was forced into the hospital, when I didn't need to go. Then I had a team change..."

"Genma's no longer your partner?" He furrowed his brow as Sakura shook her head then gulped down her bowl. "Who did they replace him with?" Sakura looked up at the Uchiha and glared.

"Do you have a role to play in the fact that they won't let me go solo?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"No, but I fully support the decision to have you on a team." Sakura snarled at him then turned back to the bar to fill her bowl. She quickly drank it's contents and filled it again. Sasuke sighed and took a step forward.

"Sakura, I..."

"Forget about it. I'll see you at training." She seethed avoiding eye contact.

"Sakura."

"Hey Uchiha., I think she wants you here any more. I would just mosie over to your table if I were you." Anko pushed herself from her stool and stood next to Sakura.

"Good thing I wasn't asking you eighty-six." Sasuke growled out. Sakura stood up quicky knocking her stool over, she turned to Sasuke, her fearures hard and cold.

"That is enough! You don't have the right to talk to her like that! She CHOSE to leave Orochimaru! Did you know that! It's not like she chose him in the first place. She was placed on his team. She had to deal with all this shit by herself! He was gone because she didn't crawl back to him for power. That's real strength there." She hissed at him. Her jaw was clenched and her hands began to clench and un-clench. The bar became silent as everyone watched the two stand off. Sakura suddenly grimaced and started to rub her chest. All the anger and tension that was around them dissipated as concern washed over Sasuke's face. Kakashi stood up quickly from his seat and grabbed onto her arm. She closed her eye and took a deep breath. "I am fine." She opened her eye and looked at Sasuke. "I will see you at training tomorrow? Go see your friends." She glanced over at the table that now held all of the rookie nine. The moment she looked at them all eyes quickly looked else where. Sasuke watched Sakura for a moment, then nodded and grunted as he walked away. She took another deep breath, picked up her chair, and then gulped down her drink.

Kakashi kinda felt the need to slam his head on the bar. This was not his idea of a good night out. He had felt lost in his life before, but these past few days had taken being lost to a whole new level. This was not something that he enjoyed. He always knew what was happening around him, but right now he had no clue. He wasn't sure if he could ask either. This took underneath the underneath to a whole new level. He sighed as he looked over at Sakura, who was now drinking and talking softly to Anko.

"Let's dance." She smiled at the snake charmer.

"They don't have a dance floor Pinky." Anko replied as she pouted.

"We'll make one. Come on I know you feel better when you dance." Sakura began to take her hand and pull her. "The night is young, and we are young. Hell I am..."Sakura's brow furrowed and she looked to the ground. Kakashi heard a quite sigh to his side and saw Jugo starting at Sakura with soft eyes.

"Twenty." Jugo said softly. "You are twenty." Sakura looked at Jugo and gave him a a small smile.

"Thank you Jugo. You see the night is young, I am young, and well... Anko are you having a hard time keepin up?" Sakura gave her a sweet smile. The snake summoner scoffed and quickly downed her drink.

"Ohh I can keep up. Let's see who the old lady is.." Anko barked as she pulled Sakura to the middle of the bar. They pushed the empty tables to the middle then began to dance. Each of the men turned to watch as they danced together. Kakashi couldn't help the smile that forced it's way onto his face. She smiled as she danced. It was like she didn't have a care in the world as she shimmied and shook.

"So what, none of you are going to go out there and dance with the two hot women?" Suigetsu asked, but his eyes never leaving Anko and Sakura. He waited for a moment but when no one answered he just smirked and walked to the "dance floor." Kakashi shook his head and let his eyes fall to the rookie nine. They all sat there watching the women also whispering back and forward to each other. Kakashi couldn't help crinkle his nose in distaste. How could they do easily turn on a comrade? Especially one that was taken and... He tried to shake the feeling as he turned back to the bar. He began to drink when the light bulb went off. He almost slammed his bowl on the counter as he turned to look at Tenzo.

"Orochimaru." He hissed.

"What?" Tenzo jumped at the sudden force of Kakashi's voice.

"That is what you all have in common. Orochimaru." Kakashi raised a brow when Tenzo smirked at him.

"Well most of us do have him in common, thought you are missing a piece." Tenzo was almost preening. He never had the advantage over Kakashi.

"Can we stop with the games? My life has been a game since I walked into the village a few days ago and I am really getting fucking tired of it." Kakashi growled out as his hands began to ball into fists. Leaving the skin on his knuckles taunt and white. His eyes traveled over the group that Sakura had gathered once more, that's when it hit him. It was as if all the air was pushed out of his lungs. How could he had not figured this out sooner? Yes they all had links to Orochimaru, but there were other people that also had that tie. What brought these individuals together was not the Sanin, but rather...

"Experiments." Kakashi said softly as he looked at Sakura's dancing form. He slowly turned his head to Tenzo. Any look of amusement that Tenzo had, fell from his face. The wood user swallowed his drink and grimaced as he looked over at Sakura and gave a small nod.

 **LONG chapter lol. I am going for a disjointed feeling in this. I am really hoping it is coming off as ok. I want the reader to be just as confused as Kakashi feels. Any ways thanks so much for the follows, comments and faves! Means a ton.**


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi sat at the bar slowly sipping his sake, his eyes glued onto Sakura as she danced with Anko and Suigetsu. His mind went blank after his realization of what had happened. Honestly he had not been able to wrap his mind around Sakura being held captive and tortured, but to also be a test subject. Sure he knew about the genjutsu, but that seems to be only the beginning. His stomach began to twist, he placed is drink down softly on the bar. Loosing all interest in any alcohol. He tore his eye off of her and looked over at Tenzo. He was sitting towards the bar, a blank mask on his face. Kakashi took a deep breath in and turned his chair to face his old friend.

"Do you know what happened?" He kept his voice even, perhaps even coming off as bored. Tenzo slowly looked over at him and swallowed the last of his drink.

"No. She doesn't talk about it. I think that Tsunade, Gemna, and Sasuke know the most." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "She had actually never said she was, but when she approached each of us... She said that she understood what we have been through. I don't even really know what the blood samples are for." He shrugged and shook his head. "She just said that there was something that was vitally important for her to figure out. Something that could endanger all nations."

Kakashi looked at the man in front of him, waiting for more information. Nothing more came out. He inwardly groaned and looked back to the dance floor. He narrowed his gaze as he watched Sasuke walk up to Sakura. She slowed her dancing and looked up at him. He leaned in and began to whisper something into her ear. She stopped moving as he talked, her eyes slowly closing. She softly shook her head and leaned back to look at him in the eyes. Her brows furrowed she sighed. Gingerly he took her into his arms and began to slow dance with her as the song changed. Kakashi watched intently as Sasuke kept talking. She slowly let her forehead rest on his shoulder as she took a shaky breath. Kakashi couldn't help but be confused by the scene in front of him. He was almost positive that they were not together, but everything on the dance floor that just happened was just so... intimate. It was also heart wrenching for some reason that he didn't know. It was like they were saying farewell.

The moment was broke when the bar door flew open and Naruto came bouncing in. Kakashi was taken back a bit by the boy. He looked just like Minato. He smirked as he saw him rush over to Sasuke and Sakura and grab both in a hug. Kissing them both on the cheek. Sakura just smiled and Sasuke shoved the boy off. Once the three were broke apart Naurto then took Sakura in a gentle hug. He smiled at her and cupped her cheek. He said something quickly then turned to the table with the rookie nine pulling Hinata up into a hug and giving her a kiss.

"Kakashi-san, I did not know you were back in the village." Kakashi looked over to see Sai standing at the bar, smiling as he waited for the bartender.

"Aa, I just got back a few days ago." Kakashi smiled at the painter.

"I am sure they are all happy with your return. Sake, Moshi please."

"Even if they are not, I am more then happy to be home." Kakashi shrugged while Sai nodded and drank his sake. "Were you on a mission?"

"Diplomatic meeting with Naruto. He is doing very well with international affairs, surprisingly enough." Sai took a seat next to Tenzo giving him a nod in acknowledgment. Tenzo nodded back and raised his glass. It seems that he had lost any interest in conversing.

"KAKASHI SENSEI!" Naruto yelled from across the bar. He then ricocheted through the bar and grabbed Kakashi in a bone crushing hug.

"It's nice to see you too Naruto. " He wheezed out grateful that Naruto did not feel the need to kiss him on the cheek. Naruto released him and smiled broadly.

"The village isn't the same when the Copy Nin leaves it for so long! I have so much to fill you in on!" Naruto yelled as he waved to the bartender. For the next few hours Kakashi was accosted by Naruto telling him about all his training and working as a Hidden Leaf Ambassador. The silver haired jounin was happy to see Naruto, but he was having a hard time concentrating on what the blonde was saying. Ever few moments he was watching Sakura, watching her talk, drink and dance. He had to find out what had happened.

After , who knows how many, drinks Sakura came stumbling next to Naruto. She yawned and stretched her body before placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It's really late, I think I need to head home." She slurred. Kakashi let his eye wander to the clock above the bar. It was past one in the morning, he looked around to see that most of the patrons had already left leaving only Anko, Jugo, Naruto, Sakura and him. Kakashi frowned at himself, he didn't even notice everyone leaving.

"I can walk you home." Jugo's soft voice came from behind him. Kakashi quickly finished his drink and stood up

.  
"No, I was about to leave. I can escort Sakura home." Kakashi looked at her with a wide smile, giving him the all too familiar eye crease. Jugo just looked over at Saukra who gave him a soft smile as she patted him on his arm. He just let out a sigh and gave a small nod. Sakura turned to Kakashi and nodded towards the door. He said a quick farewell to those who were left and then followed her out of the bar. The moment they were out of the bar she turned and looked up at Kakash,i a sly smile playing on her lip.

"You know Ka Ka Shi. I really do think that it is time for you to show me what is under that mask of yours." She grinned at him for a moment, then her face became serious as she looked behind him. "It would be only fair since you saw under mine." She whispered as she stumbled closer to him. He grabbed onto the her shoulders to steady her. He smiled as he looked at her. Slowly he leaned in, placing his masked lips only an inch away from her ear.

"I'll show you." He whispered into her ear. He could feel her body tense and shiver at the words. He couldn't help but smile. He leaned back to see the shock on her face.

"Really?" Sakura's eye went wide as she looked up at him.

"Mmmmhmmm. Just one thing." He leaned down so their faces were inches apart, his gaze hard as he looked into her eyes.

"What?" She whispered , her eye moving to the mask. She slowly ran her tongue over lips.

"You have to be sober." He whispered then stood straight, a smirk drawn on his face. "Shall we head out?" Sakura narrowed her glassy eye at him then huffed and began to walk.

"That was completely unfair." She scoffed as she glared at his profile. He just shrugged and kept on walking.

They walked for a few moment in silence, Kakashi letting Sakura take the lead. He knew where her apartment was before he left, but he was not certain that she still lived there. Which it seemed that she did have a change in address, since she was going in the opposite direction of where she had once lived. As they walked Kakashi became acutely aware of the heat that was coming from her body. It kept getting warmer and warmer as she walked closer and closer to him. He really wanted to touch her, to feel her warmth on his skin. He instead chewed the inside of his cheek and shoved his hands into his pockets. Every so often her shoulder would bump into his and she would let out a light giggle. He smirked as he looked over at the girl, relieved to see some type of happiness on her face. Even if it was from drunken clumsiness. He was so distracted by her light touches that he wasn't paying attention to where they were walking. That was until he looked over and saw a small frown pulling at her lips.

"What's wrong?" He asked furrowing his brows.

"I thought it was this way. It should be this way." She pursed her lips as she lightly scratched the side of her head and began to look around the street.

"What should be this wa..." He asked as he looked around, then he noticed that they were only a few feet away from the bar they had left nearly ten minutes ago. How had he not noticed that they had walked around the block? Then he felt the sinking feeling in his stomach, one that he was growing too accustom to since he came back home. She didn't remember where she lived. Kakashi swallowed thickly, then looked over at her and forced a smile on his face.

"Why don't you come over to my place? I recently bought a tea that was imported from Lightening that you may enjoy." He asked hoping that she would not be embarrassed. She looked up at him with a wide eye that was filled with frustration and sadness. She puffed her cheeks and then gave a quick nod. They began to walk towards his apartment and he eyed her then entire time. Over the past few days she had asked questions or had seemed to be unsure, but he just brushed it off. Hell, he had a hard time remembering what he ate for breakfast, so he couldn't blame some one for not remembering things. He sighed as they began to walk up the stairs of his complex. This felt different though. He shook his head. She may have just been having a hard time because of the alcohol. That must be it. Hell, how many times has he had woken up at friends houses after a night of drinking? Too many for an exact count.

They walked to his apartment and Kakashi took note that she slowed in front of Gemna's door narrowing her eyes slightly. She shook her head then quickened her step to fall inline with him. Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets searching for his key as he walked. He swiftly opened the door and released the seals in his apartment holding the door for his guest. Sakura slowly followed him in, pausing at the entrance as she took her shoes off. She quietly followed him into the kitchen and took a seat at the table for two. She sat with her eye following his every movement. He felt a bit awkward at being watched so intently, but he shook it off as he prepared the tea.

"So what was up with the blood draw?" Kakashi asked casually with his back turned to her as he tended the kettle.

"Hmmm?" Sakura hummed as if she was drawn out of deep thought.

"The blood samples." He turned his head and looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Ohh!" She jumped up and pulled at the pack that was on the side of her thigh. "Thanks for reminding me, I need to put these in the fridge if you don't mind." She asked as she walked through the small kitchen and placed her samples in the fridge before he replied to her request. He just shrugged while he moved around her and gathered the tea and the cups. Sakura swayed a bit before finding her seat at the table again. Kakashi waited for an answer as he began the process of steeping the tea, but came to the conclusion that she had forgotten about it.

"So what is with the blood samples that are now in my refridgerator?" He smirked as he brought the tea over to table. She looked up and gave him a glassy eye smile.  
"Sugar or milk?"

"No thank you. The samples are just something I am looking into." Kakashi watched as she picked up her tea cup and gently blew on it. His eyes focused intently on the shape and color of her mouth. He didn't know how many timed he had thought about her mouth in the past few years. Too many times. He let out a sigh and looked into her eye.

"What exactly are you looking into?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair. He wanted to know, and he wanted to know badly, but he knew if he pushed too hard that there was a good chance that she would shut down. He also hoped that her inebriated state would help her open up a bit. Sakura just took a breath and shrugged a bit.

"Nothing too amazing, just a look into genetics." She eyed him as she took another sip. "This is good tea, but I still think that Fire Country grows the best tea. Especially the tea fields by the volcano's." She smirked. She was still slurring a bit on some words, but it seemed that she was fast on her way to sobering. Kakashi nodded and smiled at her.

"So this, genetic thing, you are looking into. Is it something for the hospital?" He asked, not letting the topic change to tea farming. He watched as she attempted to subtly chew on the inside of her cheek while her eye narrowed at him.

"I don't work at the hospital." She replied coldly after a few moments of silence. He sighed, she was starting to shut down. "I really should be going." Sakura said suddenly and stood. He stood quickly and blocked her path to the door.

"Stay the night here." Kakashi really had to fight the smile. How many times had he wanted to use those words. "It's late, and your home is a long walk from here." He lied, not having a clue where her home was located. Sakura's looked at him with cold eyes, worrying her bottom lip slightly. He mentally urged her to take the offer. He really didn't want to be up all night looking for her home, if she didn't remember where it was.

"Fine." She bit out. He just smiled at her.

"Let me go change the sheets on the bed then you can get to sleep." He began to walk away, but a small hand circled around his wrist.

"I can't take your bed, I am fine on the couch."

"No, you get the bed, I'll take the couch." He shrugged. "I really haven't reacquainted myself with it since I got back home." He smirked as he gently pulled his wrist out of her gasp. She just sighed and followed him. Good he thought, not in the mood for some type of hospitality fight. He quickly made the bed and tossed her some old clothes for her to sleep in. As soon as he was sure she had what she needed he left her in his room. He began to undress as he made his way to his couch. He yawned as he stretched out and sleep took him under quickly.

Kakashi woke to a dark apartment, his back sore from the ancient couch he was sleeping on and nature was calling. He took a deep breath and then stiffly pulled himself up. He mumble a few cursed as his bones popped with the movement. He groggily walk to the bathroom, after he was finished he walked out and quietly walked to his bedroom door. He didn't know why, but he needed to see if she was alright. Which, even he, could admit was a bit absurd. His hand slowly reached out for the knob and he slowly turned it, making sure there was no audible click as the latch pulled back. He slowly opened the door to find that his bed was empty. For a moment Kakashi just frowned. He looked up at the window, it was closed. When had she left? They could not have been asleep for longer then a few hours. There is no way she would have been able to leave through the front door. He would have noticed her.

"Shit." He groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. She didn't know where her house was. What if she still didn't remember? He took a deep ragged breath. He needed to find her. He walked briskly through his apartment throwing on the shirt he discarded by his couch. Once he pulled on his shoes he walked two doors down and banged on Gemna's door. He really didn't want to be asking him for help, but Kakashi figured it was the best place to start. He stood in front of the door, shifting his weight from one leg to the other as he waited for the man to open up. Just as he was about to slam his knuckles into the door again, Gemna slowly opened.

"Kakashi? What the fuck are you doing here this late?" Gemna's voice was rough with sleep, and his eyes a bit swollen from the midnight wake up call.

"Is Sakura here?" He asked quickly. Gemna just snorted.

"Listen I don't want to deal with your shit right now Hatake. Go home." Gemna snarled and began to shut the door. Before he could Kakashi had slammed his hand into it and pushed it open slightly.

"Gemna... I need to know if she is here." Kakashi knew that he sounded desperate, and he couldn't help the panic that was came through his words. Gemna's brow furrowed as he looked at him, his eyes hardening with concern.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. She was spending the night at my place, and when I went to check on her, she was gone." Kakashi took a breath. Gemna's eyes narrowed at Kakashi.

"She spent the night at you place? Why was she there?" Gemna asked as he raised his eyebrow. Kakashi sighed again.

"We went to the bar, and I walked her home. The thing is, Gemna, she didn't remember where she lived. I had her stay at my place since I don't know either. Now she isn't there and I don't know if she made it home." His hands began to ball into fists. Gemna just ran a hand over his face and sighed.

"I take it you didn't check the closet?" Kakashi just glared at him. "No man, I am serious. Before you go and over turn all of Kohona, look there. If she is there and has seals placed, don't break them and don't touch her." Gemna yawned and rubbed his eyes. "If she isn't there, then come and grab me and I will help you look for her." Kakashi gave the man a curt nod before jogging back to his apartment.

He quickly made his was through his home and into the bed room. He paused for a moment once his hand touched the door of the closet. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Knowing that if she was in there and he whipped open the accordion doors it would surely frighten her more then anything. So he fought the haste that his body wanted to move with and slowly let the doors fold into themselves. There he found Sakura huddled into the corner, her mouth formed into a silent scream. His first reaction was to pull her to him, to wake her up. Then he thought of what Gemna said and he scanned the area around her. There were several small parchments of papers with seals placed on them spread around her. He scanned it to find that they were like the seals that the Hokage used in the office. Seals that were meant to mute out the sound from within the barrier. Kakashi looked back up to her face, that was distorted in pure terror. How could he just leave her like this? He weighed the options that he had. He could break the barrier and try and comfort her, but he didn't know anything about the situation. He didn't know why Gemna would instruct to not touch her. He bit down on his bottom lip enough to draw blood. Inhaling deeply through his nose he pulled his mask off and wiped the blood that was flowing.

There was nothing for him to do. He shook his head while watching her. The only thing that he could do was wait for her to wake up and explain then. Tomorrow he would get answers. Kakashi backed up to the wall that was adjacent to the closet and let his body slide down. Resting his hands on his raised knees he sat and watched the woman he loved writhe in agony.

He didn't know when but at some point sleep captured him. Kakashi woke up with a stiff back and a even stiffer neck. He groaned as he thought that he was too old to sleep in such odd angles any more. His eyes snapped open as he remembered why he was in the position he was in and looked ahead to see a vacant closet. He closed is eyes and sighed as he awkwardly began to stand up. A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. A small piece of paper was gliding down to the floor. Once it fell Kakashi bent down to pick it up, rubbing his back as he straightened.

I am going to be at the training grounds until 1:30. I will see you when you get there. There is a bottle of water on your night stand and some acetaminophen. You'll probably need it for a hangover or your back.

Thank you for letting my stay the night.  
xSx

Kakashi looked up to the clock, seven thirty. That wasn't horribly late. Grabbing the water bottle and the pills he made his way to the bathroom and began to get ready for the day.

He left and locked his apartment and walked past Gemna's, he stopped and stared at the door before deciding to walk up and knock. He waited patiently for a few moment before the senbon obsessed man opened the door. He was dressed in casual wear and was sipping a cup of coffee. Kakashi was thankful that it did not seem like he woke the man up for a second time. Gemna just stood there with an eye brow cocked as he continued to nurse his drink. It seemed that he was waiting for Kakashi to speak first.

"Gemna, do you have any plans today?" Kakashi asked after clearing his throat.

"Why want to take me out on a date Hatake?" He asked as his brow wiggled. Kakashi knew that he knew what he wanted to talk about, and it seemed that he wasn't going to comply easily. Kakashi just snorted.

"Well if you do your hair just right," He winked at Gemna. Fine he could be light for now. "But seriously do you have plans today?" Gemna narrowed his eyes then scratched the side of his face.

"I have some things that I need to take care of this afternoon." He breathed as he leaned against the door. "But if you want to stop by tomorrow morning or afternoon I should be here." He said as he placed the senbon in his mouth and began to roll it about. Kakashi nodded and lifted his hand to wave.

"Alright see you tomorrow man." He said as he began to walk away. Kakashi could feel Gemna's gaze as it followed him down the hallway. If there as once person that Kakashi could make talk easily, it should be that man.

With a brisk pace Kakashi walked to the training fields to find Sakura. Once he walked through the gates he noted that there were two chakra signatures on the field, he knew one to be Sakura, the other was familiar but he could not place who it was. He decided to conceal his chakra and quietly made his way to the center of the field. There he found Sakura sitting stretching her legs while a woman with vibrant red hair was looking down at her talking.

"I am sorry Sakura, I tried to get a few days off in a row, but that damn head nurse just won't let me. I think she really has something against me." The red head sighed.

"Still having issues with Momo?" Sakura sighed and stood up. "It's fine I can figure something out." She shook her head and and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I am sorry Karin. Those women really need to learn how to get over things and stop being such douche bags."

"Right? You think that they would by now. We have been here for three years, and fought with you." Karin snorted. "But no.. I just want to be treated like anyone else. I know I fucked up, but some of it I couldn't control." She pushed her glasses up and pursed her lips. Sakura reached out and placed a hand on Karin's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

"I know."

"I can see if one of the boys..."

"No. They wouldn't understand what they were looking for. Plus, if there is something that needs explaining, can you imagine them trying to bring back some type of message?" Sakura just shook her head. "I'll just figure something out. Don't worry about it." She started stretching again.

"Well I better get going. I can't be late and have another reason for Momo to hate me." Karin sneered. "I'll see you later Sakura."

"Later Karin." Both girls waved to each other and Karin began to walk away. Kakashi waited for a moment before walking towards Sakura. She looked up at him once she caught his movement. She smiled a nervous smile and scratched under the band of her eye patch.

"Yo," Kakashi waved his hand and smiled at the girl.

"So how long have you been out there?" Sakura asked as she pulled her arm across her chest and tugged with her other hand.

"Not long, just actually walked up." He shrugged. "How are you feeling?" Sakura narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before switching arms.

"I am fine." She said slowly, skepticism painted on her every word.

"That's good. Thought you might be a bit hungover." He smiled at her widely making his eyes crease. He wanted to see if she would say anything about what happened last night. He knew it was a long shot, and unfortunately it seemed he was right.

"Well, I am a bit drained." Sakura yawned. "Hey, how about we take it easy?" Kakashi just shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Wanna see if our summons get along?"

"My pack doesn't have any issues with the slugs." Kakashi frowned.

"Oh no, not the slugs. They are no longer my primary." She said as began her hand signs then bit her thumb and placed her bloody finger on the ground. Six loud pops and smoke filled the air. Then out of the fog walked six large spotted hyenas. A low chuckle coming from each as their heads were kept low, ears flattened to their heads and their tails erect. "Calm down. No battle is happening, I just wanted introduce you to my partner and his summons." Sakura took a step forward to the head of the clan. She placed a hand on the large shoulder blades and gave it a pat. "It's been a bit Aza. It's good to see you." The Hyena raised her head and then rubbed the side of her cheek on Sakura's hip.

"Sakura, it's always a pleasure." The large hyena said in a foreign accent. She knelt down and pressed her cheeks against the beasts. Kakashi stood a few feet away not quite knowing what to do. Sure he had been around summons, but most were familiar and the animals reflected the local species. He had only seen hyenas in books and didn't know what the proper way to interact or introduce. so he figured he would let Sakura take the lead. Slowly she stood up and greeted each of her summons either by pressing their heads to her hip or running her hand down their necks and patting their shoulder blades. After she was done attending each of them she walked over to Kakashi.

"Kakashi , this is Aza, the leader of my clan. This one is Chiku, there is Ramla, over there is Fola. Then we have the boys: Dia and Kamua. Guys this is Kakashi my new partner." The hyenas circled around him making soft whooping noises as they smelled and eyed him. "He has a pack of ninken, and I wanted to make sure you all got along in case we need you at the same time." She said as she watched Kakashi stumble as Dia pushed his nose to the side. A smile pulling on her lips as she watched them interact.

"Yo," Kakashi said as he looked down at them. Aza stood in front of him and fully raised her head.

"This one doesn't seem as annoying as the last. Let's meet his little beasts." She chuffed out. The rest began a low chuckle in agreement. The noise made the hairs on Kakashi's neck raise. These animals had him on edge, they honestly did not seem to be a summon that would fit Sakura. It also made him nervous to call his pack. What if they didn't get along? Pakkun was so small. He shook his head. The little dog would surely not response well to that thought. Kakashi closed his eyes and began the seals to call his pack.

Eight pops fill the air as he completed the summon.

"What's up boss?" Pakkun asked in his gruff voice. Though his attention is quickly drawn to the six large beasts that were looking at the pack of dogs in front of them. The hair began to raise on his back as he took a step back. "What are those?" The pug asks as his lip began to curl.

"They wear cloths? Really are these Ninken or are they dolls?" Chiku laughed as she walked up and sniffed Urushi who snapped at her. Chiku stepped back for a moment then walked up and grabbed the dog by the neck pulling at it slowly. Bull, who normally moves about as fast as a log in a marsh, dashed over to his pack mate. The hairs on his back fully raised, his lips pulled into a snarls showing all of teeth.

"Chiku!" Sakura scolded."We are not dominating his pack, release the dog and be a nice girl will ya?" The hyena slowly released the small dog and took a step back. She raised her head and looked over at Bull, eyeing him for a moment before snorting and walking to stand besides her master.

"Those are bitches?!" Pakkun looked up at Kakashi. "She has a penis boss." He half whispered, his lazy little eyes wide as he looked at his master. Kakashi sighed as he ran his hand over his face. "Yes some of them are female." Sakura tried to fight the laughter but she couldn't, eventually she was laughing so hard that she was holding her side. She wiped the tears from her eyes and walked over to Kakashi.

"Oh I thought this may be awkward, but I never thought that Pakkun could look shocked." She said as her laughter began to fade. Pakkun let his attention draw to Sakura as he sniffed the air.

"Sakura?" Pakkun asked as he walked towards her. "What happened to you?" He cocked his head as he looked up at her. She grimaced as she looked down at the little pug. Kakashi stilled at the bluntness of his ninken and held his breath as he watched Sakura.

"A lot has happened." She said quietly. She then forced a smile as she bent down. "Now why don't you get to know my clan. You may be working together sooner or later." Pakkun just narrowed his eyes at her for a moment and studied her features.

"Alright Sakura." He sighed and began to walk towards the clan of hyenas. Sakura stayed in her crouched position as she watched the dogs and hyenas mingle and greet each other.

"Well it definitely could have gone worse." Sakura said as she stood up. Kakashi just grunted and nodded. " I say that we give them the morning to get use to each other. I am not really in the mood for a spar or anything like that." She said as she raised her arms above her and stretched. Kakashi noticed a slight shake in her hand as she lowered it to her side.

"You sure you are doing ok?" He asked, not looking at her but keeping his gaze on the beasts in front of him. Sakura just let out a long sigh.

"I am fine Kakashi. I don't need you hovering over me." She turned her head and glared at him. "Just forget about last night k?" She said as she walked away from him and began to mingle among the beasts. Kakashi clenched his jaw and could feel the muscles ticking. There was no fucking way that he was going to forget about it. He couldn't help but glare at her. Why did everyone feel the need to hide what was going on? Was it even fair for him to want the answers? Maybe he should not dig, but he didn't know if he could stop himself. He rolled his shoulders to release the tension that had built in them as he walked towards the nearest tree. He grunted as he took a seat at the base of it and took out his orange book from his pack.

He sat there with the book in front of his face but he was not reading. No, he was watching Sakura engage with their summons. He idly stroked bull who had wandered over to him shortly after he sat down. He smirked when the mastiff came over and flopped himself down with a huff stating as long as the summons listen to their master he didn't care who he worked with. Kakashi was so enthralled with Sakura he barely registered that a hyena was walking towards them.

"Do you mind?" The deepest voice Kakashi had ever heard came from the hyena standing in front of him. He looked at him and just shrugged. The hyena let out a long yawn which made his eyes widen at the size of his mouth. He could easily fit his head in there. "Kamua." The beast rumbled as he flopped down next to Kakashi. He looked down at the hyena with a raised brow. "My name is Kumua, I know it is probably difficult for you to tell us apart, since we all look alike. Not like your ninken."

"Ah." Kakashi grunted trying not to tense as the beast rolled over so it's back was pressed against his out stretched leg. "You clan is far away from it's origin. How did you find Sakura?" He asked as he snapped his book shut.

"You know, we like to be scratched as much as your canines." Kumua said as he rubbed the top of his head on Kakashi's leg. He couldn't help but smirk, perhaps petting him would be his payment for information. So he let his hand run along Kumua's stiff fur. He watched as the beasts eyes closed in pleasure. "She killed our last summoner." Kumua grunted out.

"I am sorry?"

"Eh, he wasn't so great. Not that I really care as long as they aren't too much of a pain in the ass." He shifted his weight to direct where he wanted Kakashi's hand to go. Bull grunted in agreement which caused Kakashi to narrow his gaze at the mastiff. "It wasn't like she stole the scroll or anything. Aza sought her out. Said that she would make the most sense to have us, since she is like us." Another long yawn left his large mouth.

"Like you?"

"She has a penis also." Kakashi eyes snapped to Kumua, who only let out an eerie chuckle. "No she doesn't. She is like us because she is atypical. A mixture of things that should not be." Before he said anymore he noticed that Sakura had walked over.

"Getting along are we Kumua?" She asked sweetly. Kakashi took note of how Sakura shifted on her feet slightly the shaking that was happening in her hand was more violent she as stood before them. "Aza, said you are all good to go. Most of the clan has started to grow tired anyway." Kumua let out a rumble before he drug himself up.

"It was nice to meet you Kakashi, hopefully you won't be annoying like the last one. Sakura, give us a call anytime." Kumua said then disappeared in a puff of smoke. The rest of the summons followed suit and soon Sakura and Kakashi were left alone on the training field.

"Well I think that we are good for today." Sakura yawned. "So I'll see you here tomorrow at seven?"

"Mmmhmm." Kakashi began to slowly stand up. He was debating on if he should ask her to dinner, but didn't want to come out too desperate. Perhaps lunch. Yes, lunch would work, it is far less formal. "Do you..."

"Sakura." Kakashi looked over to see Sasuke walking down the field. Both him and Sakura let out a disappointed sigh. Kakashi glanced back at her, not being able to stop the smile on his face. Frankly he liked that she was disappointed when she saw the boy.

"Hey Sasuke, I thought that I said that I would make sure that I would go to training." She ran a shaky hand through her hair.

"I thought that you may have forgotten. I was over on this side of the village anyways." Sasuke shrugged and scratched the back of his neck.

"Right." Sakura snorted. "Well, guess we might as well just train here then. Kakashi I will see you later." Kakashi just nodded and began to walk away. Though he had no intentions of leaving the field. Nope, he was going to see what kind of training Sasuke was needed for. So he hid his chakra and took to the trees and looped around so he could watch the training field.

"Did you take that medication this morning?" Sasuke asked as he was walked up to Sakura and slowly pulled her eye patch off.

"No, I did not take it, but I will have to soon." She stood still as Sasuke placed her eye patch in his vest.

"Not for a while. Now open your eye." Sakura glared as she opened her milky way eye. "Activate." Kakashi leaned forward trying to get a better look at what was happening. Times like this he really wished that he still had his sharingan. Sakura grimaced as the black of her eye turned red. The shaking becoming more violent in her hand.

"Ok see if you can tell my movement. Dodge everything." Sasuke commanded as he threw a punch at her. She dodge quickly and snarled at Sasuke. This went on for a while. Sasuke attacking her and her trying to avoid the hits. She suddenly stopped and held up her hand. Her whole body trembling.

"I need to stop, I need that pill." She walked shakily to where her bag was and started to pick it up. Sasuke flicked over to her and pulled the bag away. His face going cold as he glared at her.

"No. Not now. You need to work more, and focus more." He said flatly as he tossed the bag to the side.

"I CAN'T! There is too much to focus on. I am being split apart!" She screamed, her body convulsing. "I am not strong enough."

"Sakura, you can do this. You NEED to do this. Just try and focus some more. Try to cast a genjutsu." She clenched her jaw, the muscles dancing as she looked at him. Sasuke suddenly became very still, then let out a scream that Kakashi had only heard a few times before. The man was being tortured, his very soul being taken. Then just as quickly as it started Sasuke became quite. His eyes glowed red as he snapped his gaze to Sakura, breathing in pants. Sakura glared at the raven haired man then collapsed onto her knees.

"Was that really necessary?" Sasuke growled at her.

"I...i...is..th..th..this...nec..necessary?" Sakura stuttered out as the shaking became even more violent. All Kakashi wanted to do was jump down there and help her, but he knew if she found out he was watching the whole time she would be upset with him. He clenched his jaw as he watched her crawl jerkily toward the bag that Sasuke had taken from her. Once she got there she dug through it and lifted out a pill container. Her hands shaking so hard that she was having a hard time opening it. Sasuke sighed and roughly ran his hand through his hair. He walked over to Sakura, crouching down in front of her and took the container out of her hands. He opened it up as he scooped out a pill and placed it into her mouth. The cold mask that he was wearing melted away as he sat down and began to rub her back.

"Sakura, we need to figure this out." He said softly as he looked away. "I think it may be the only way." He said as he closed his eyes. Sakura still shook, but she nodded.

"I... I...d..d..don't k...k..k..now if there is... enough time. Not for both." She said as the shaking began to subside.

"You need to make time." He pleaded with her. She just shook her head and sat next to him.

"It's too important."

Sasuke sighed again and shook his head. " I don't want to have this argument again."

"Then don't, I need to get home. The samples should be done." She began to slowly pull herself to her feet. Sasuke stood up and helped her up the rest of the way.

"I'll take you." Sasuke said as he pulled her into a embrace and then quickly made hand signs and they both disappeared in a cloud smoke.

"What the fuck was that?" Kakashi asked to no one particular as he fell softly from the tree he was perched on. He stood there for a moment just looking at the space that Sasuke and Sakura had left vacant. Things seemed to be worse then he had even imagined, and he thought that he thought of all the worst case scenarios. With a long sigh he shook his head and headed back to his apartment. Hopefully his talk with Gemna would shed some type of light on this whole fucked up situation.

Kakashi was restless. He had nothing to do with the rest of his day, and his books were no longer bringing him comfort. He had done enough push up and sit ups to make his muscles ache. He had cleaned and dusted his whole apartment and had done his laundry. He was anxious for the day to come to a close. So he found himself lying on his couch watching some ridiculous soap opera. He was glaring at the depiction of some ninja love story when he heard knocking on his door.

"Sakura."

"Hey Kakashi."

"Want to come in?" Kakashi asked as he opened the door and moved to the side. She seemed irritated and he wondered if it was from her training with Sasuke. He watched as she walked in and was relieved to see that she was not shaking at all anymore. "Would you like some tea?"

"No thank you. I can't stay for long." She said as she leaned against the breakfast bar between his kitchen and living room.

"How can I help ya out?" He asked as he leaned next to her. She took a deep breath then puffed out her cheeks.

"I need a babysitter for a few days. You don't happen to have plans do you?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"A babysitter?" Kakashi asked as he scratched the back of his neck.

"I have some place that I need to go, but I am not cleared to go by myself, so I need an escort." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Ah, that explained the frustration. One that he could understand.

"I don't have any plans, I can escort you. Where are you going." Sakura looked over at him with a small smirk.

"You'll see when we get there. We'll skip training in the morning and we'll leave in the afternoon. Met at the bridge around noon?" Kakashi nodded his head. That actually worked perfect. He could catch Gemna before leaving. "I got to get going. Thank you Kakashi." She began to push herself off the bar and walk away when Kakashi reached for her shoulder.

"How long am I going to be kept in the dark?" He asked feeling bolder. She glared at him. He closed his eyes and removed his hand.

"About what?" She asked slowly.

"Come on Sakura." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I... I know.. I.. There is so much and I just can't.. Not now. I am sorry." She said softly before her eye began to harden. She stared at him for a moment before she shook her head. "You want to know my secrets Hatake? Maybe you should start by telling some of yours." She whispered then quickly turned on her heals and ran to the door. Kakashi flinched as she slammed it behind her.

Kakashi found himself knocking on Gemna's door at seven. Sure it may be a little early for a social call, but he had been awake for a few hours and he was impatient to get some answers. The door opened to a bleary eyed Gemna standing in only a pair of flannel pants.

"Bit early Hatake?" Gemna croaked out as he glared at the man in front of him.

"Na, the sun has been up for an hour, so time to get up." Kakashi smiled as he rocked back and forward on the balls of his feet.

"Hn... Well come on in." The senbon user drawled as he walked back into his apartment. Gemna slowly made his way into his kitchen and flipped on the coffee maker. Kakashi followed him in and took a seat at his table. "So what do you need?" He asked as he filled a pitcher and then filled the coffee maker. Kakashi sat for a moment, his fingers drumming on the table in front of him.

"What happened to her?" Direct. Yes direct seemed to be the best option. Gemna turned his head to look at him and cocked an eyebrow.

"Well that is a large question. What exactly do you know?"

"That she was taken for a long time. That they tested some genjutsu. I also believe that she had experiments done." His face hardened as he watched Gemna pull out two mugs.

"Listen man, honestly I don't know too much. She refused to really give me an idea." Kakashi bit his lip. He wasn't sure if he believed Gemna or not.

"Why does she come to you?" Gemna looked over at him, shaking his head. He groaned as he pushed one of his palms into his eye and rubbed.

"I ground her." His brow furrowed a bit. "I was the one that found her. I was on my way back from a mission. It was pure luck. I stopped by a stream to fill up my canteen, when I heard movement. I walked over feeling a chakra signature that was so low that I thought that there was no way that it could be human. I was wrong... She was crawling towards me. She was such a mess. I didn't even know it was her. There was dirt, mud and blood everywhere. I didn't know until she mumbled something about Tsunade-shishou. That's when it clicked. Man, I have seen some fucked up shit, but the way she looked. I..." Gemna's eyes began to glass over as he started into space. The sudden beep of the coffee maker brought him back. He turned and filled two mugs and took a seat at the table. Kakashi took his coffee and pulled down his mask and sipped it slowly."it's something that haunts me even when I am awake. She kept on asking me if this was real. Asking if she was dead. Then she would constantly try and break a genjustu that wasn't cast on her. That was while she was awake and coherent, which was pretty rare. When she slept she screamed. It took two weeks to get back home, and it was torture having to watch her. She would shake so hard some times that she would almost bit her tongue off." Gemna clenched his jaw and took a long breath through his nose. "They really fucked her up." He said quietly before taking a sip of his coffee. Kakashi just sat there perfectly still his muscles tense as he listened.

"What happened when you got her home? What did Tsunade tell you?" Kakashi asked as he ran his hand through his hair.

"They didn't tell me anything besides that she would live. Tsunade said it was up to her to tell me if she wanted. I think the Uchiha knows, but I think that has more to do with him using the sharingan to calm her down." Gemna snarled down into his coffee. "The only things that could help her at first were his eyes, and for some reason she latched onto me. Even now when she feels like she is loosing it, she will come over. " Kakashi swallowed and nodded his head.

"Is that the reason you and Sasuke seemed to have some... issues?" Kakashi asked as he furrowed his brow.

"No. Uchihas are morons. He fell from my graces long before then." He snorted. "I heard that you are her new partner." He cocked he brow as he looked up at Kakashi, who just nodded at him. Gemna let out a sigh and shook his head with a smirk. "Have fun with that." He dryly laughed.

"Why can't she keep a partner?" Kakashi asked as he ran a hand over his chin.

"Classified. You'll find out soon enough though." Kakashi narrowed his eye at him. "That's all that I can really tell you Hatake. I wish I knew more, you have no idea how much I want to know what is going on, but she is tight lipped. I have some theories, but that is also classified."Gemna leaned back in his chair, picking up a senbon he placed it in his mouth. Kakashi sighed as drank the rest of his coffee.

"Gemna, I am sorry about the other day. I didn't mean..."

"It's fine Hatake. I over reacted." He shrugged as he ran his hand through his hair. Kakashi stood as he pulled up his mask.

"I have to get going I am escorting Sakura some where and have to prepare, Thank you for everything man." Kakashi said as he placed his hand on Gemna's shoulders and giving it a light squeeze. He was happy that there was no issues between them.

Kakashi left Gemna's apartment with no more answers then what he went in with. He had lied to Gemna about preparing, he was already set to go, he just couldn't listen to what he had to say anymore. Images of a bloody and beaten Sakura filled his head. He took to the roof and began to run to the training field. He had to do something with the rage that was filling him. He found the first empty training ground and ran his chidori through as many trees as possible. He felt a great amount of satisfaction at the chirping of the lightening and the burning smeell that filled his nostrils. He missed using his jutsu in field. He missed harnessing the raw power of his lightening, and the way it made his hairs stand on end, so he relished in it now.

Panting Kakashi looked around at the decimated grounds. He grimaced as he realized that he would be paying for the reconstrution of it. How did Sakura have any money left with how she trained?, he breifly wondered. Then he smirked. He didn't reserve this field so the damage couldn't really be tracked to him. Then he stared at the bolt patterns in the tree. There was only one other lightening wielder in the village, and Sasuke could certainly afford to pay. With that thought he took off to back to his apartment to grab his gear and then took off to the bridge.

 **I would like to say thank you for the follows, faves, and comments it does mean a lot to me! I hope you like this chapter, it did give me some issues, but I think it works. It does give you a few answers.. Also I do apologies for spelling and grammar issues.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

As Kakashi walked to the red bridge he found that he was a bit lighter in his steps. He was going to be alone with Sakura for a few days. This was the time to really get to know her all over again, with out any distractions. The smile that he had faltered as he saw Sasuke standing in the middle of the bridge, his hands stuffed into his pockets his gaze locked on the ground. Fantastic, he was the last person that he had wanted to see standing there. Kakashi threw the world smallest temper tantrum as he kicked a pebble out of his way. The small thud that it made when it hit the wood had drew Sasuke's attention to him.

"Kakashi," He said cooley with a small nod of his head.

"Sasuke." Kakashi returned the nod and put on a fake smile. "What brings you out here?"

"Just meeting Sakura." Sasuke shrugged as he leaned against the railing of the bridge. Kakashi inwardly groaned. "You?"

"Same." He walked to the other side and leaned against the railing. Sasuke observed Kakashi for a moment then his lip curled into a smile.

"So you're her new partner?" The Uchiha sounded relieved as he asked, which caused the silver haired mans brows to raise.

"Hn." He replied as he crossed his arm in front of him. Kakashi still wasn't sure how to handle this inquisitive and talkative Sasuke.

"Good, I am glad that it isn't some green kid that wanted to prove something." Sasuke still smirking shook his head. How would being Sakura's partner prove something? Just as he was about to ask he became distracted when he saw a head of pink hair bobbing towards them.

"Sasuke?" Sakura walked to the bridge with a puzzled expression. "What are you doing here?"

"Karin told me that she couldn't go and I figured you would go instead." He shrugged and pushed off the rail. "So I thought I would tag along." Sakura let out an irritated sigh. Kakashi attempted to keep from smiling, he really did enjoy hearing her getting annoyed at him.

"That's really unnecessary. Kakashi is coming with me. Everything is cleared." She huffed as she walked passed him.

"She is right. I can handle escorting her Sasuke." Kakashi said as he began to walk after Sakura.

"Well, I have been cleared also. I have a week off of missions, and Tsunade thinks it is a good idea for me to come along also." He smiled at her as he fell into line with her pace. fucking awesome. That is just how Kakashi wanted to spend his time, with two ex lovers. Well, he assumed ex. Frankly Sasuke's attention to Sakura made him question if there was not something else going on.

"Fine it's no use in fighting. We are leaving now."Sakura said as she adjusted the strap of the bag on her shoulder and quickened her pace to the gate. Kakashi just sighed and jogged to flank the other side of her. He frowned hoping that this little excursion wasn't going to be too awkward.

They walked in a strained silence for a while. Sakura was clearly annoyed, and it seemed it was at both males. Sasuke had reverted back to a cold stoic mask, and Kakashi... Well he was frustrated, but hid it with taking out his copy of Icha Icha Violence.

"Sakura," Sasuke said softly after a few hours. Sakura just looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "Do you remember when we first met Kakashi?" At that Kakashi let his eyes to look over his book at the two, who were now walking a few steps ahead of him. Why would Sasuke bring that up? It seemed a little random.

"Yeah," Sakura said softly. Sasuke hummed next to her.

"I still can't believe an elite fell for something like that." Sasuke chuckled. Sakura gave a curt nod and her mouth formed a tight smile. She closed her eye for a moment and rubbed the back of her neck. She looked back at Kakashi and gave him a strained smile. She then took a deep breath and her smile relaxed and became larger.

"The best part may have been Naruto's likes and dislikes. I dislike the three minutes I have to wait for my ramen." She laughed as her body relaxed. Kakashi smiled as he watched as the spark and lightness returned to her eye. Sasuke also smiled as he looked over at her.

"Yeah and what were your likes?" Sasuke chuckled.

"Oh, shut up I was twelve!" Sakura frowned and bumped her shoulder into his.

"Who I like, I mean what I like... My dream..." Sasuke mocked as Sakura glared at him.

"Yeah well I was just as detailed as Kakashi. I have many hobbies, I have may likes and dislikes." Sakura said in a low voice as she looked over her shoulder at Kakashi. He looked at her with a dumb smile.

"Well, what I said was true." He shrugged and winked at Sakura. She snorted and shook her head.

"Always the enigma aren't we sensei?"

"Eh, gotta keep them guessing."

Kakashi was relieved that they began to talk. The tension had slowly faded away. The one thing that just kept on shocking him was that Sasuke was the one doing the most talking. He was the one that kept bringing up past missions, or even his and Sakura's time in the academy together. He almost talked as much as Naruto. The man certainly had changed. Kakashi bit his cheek and watched them banter back and forward. Damn it, why did Sasuke have to be so sweet to her? It made the annoyance that Kakashi felt towards Sasuke fade away... slightly. He sighed and looked away from the two.

As the sun began to fade Sakura decided that it was time to make camp. They found an area a bit off the path they were on and began to make camp. The quickly prepared a fire and began to prepare dinner. They ate with some idle chatter, Sasuke still reminiscing about the past and Sakura adding a comment here and there. Kakashi stayed quite. There wasn't much he felt that he needed to add to the conversation. He just sat and enjoyed the smiles and laughs Sakura gave while she talked about her memories. There was a lull in the conversation, nothing too awkward. Each of them were sitting by the fire enjoying the heat when Sasuke cleared his throat.

"Did you ever wonder why you were put on team seven?" Sasuke questioned as he looked over at Sakura. She turned her head and cocked it to the side. Her brow furrowed and a small frown pulling on her lips. Kakashi just raised his brow as he looked between the two. The question was kind of startling, as he never really thought about it. "I mean, technically you should have been on a different team. Having two of the top of the class in one team doesn't seem to make much sense." Sasuke shrugged as he poked the embers of the fire with a stick.

"And you mean put me with three orphans?"Sakura said as she scratched the side of her head that looked shaved. Sasuke smirked and hummed at her. "Well let me ask you this, when Kakashi asked what our dreams were, why did we answer how we did?" Both Sasuke and Kakashi gave her a confused look as she picked grass off of her pants. She looked up at them and sighed. "Ok, Naruto... His dream was, I mean is, to become Hokage. Why did he want to become Hokage back then? To be acknowledged. Something that he never had. To have people look at him in a positive light. Right? Then there was you, you wanted revenge so you could feel peace. That was something that you didn't have. I wanted you, because I wanted a family. My dream was to have a real family. For some fucked up reason, I thought you to be an ideal partner." She quirked her lip to the side and shrugged her shoulders a bit. Kakashi slowly shook his head, a small frown pulling on his lips.

"Sakura I met your parents..." Kakashi said slowly as he watched her wince a bit.

"No you met my mother. You have never met my father, because I never did." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "You met my step father. He was alright. I mean he really didn't care for me. He was around for my mother, which I mean I guess that was a good thing. She needed some one that she didn't hate to be around." Slowly she opened her eye and looked at Kakashi. "I was born from rape. My mother loved me deeply and hated me just as much. Nothing like getting smacked around being told that you are a reminder of the worst day of her life. Then hugged and being told that you are loved and treasured. It's confusing for a child. On top of that her first husband, the one that was married to her when I was born, a few months before academy went bat shit crazy and tried to kill me and mom. I guess it was some PTSD thing. My mom killed him, and she also blamed me for that. Which never did make any sense to me. What could a six year old do to make a grown man try and kill her and her mother? I guess she was just looking for some one to blame and I was the easiest target." She took a deep breath. "So while you Sasuke had difficult parents, they loved you. Naruto never knew his parents, and my parent loved and hated me. We are all broken, just differently, but broken non the less. I thought I could fix it by having a family, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards." She shrugged as she leaned back on her arms and stretched out her legs in front of her.

Kakashi felt like an asshole. There was no better way to put it. He never thought about Sakura's past, not even when he first met the girl. She seemed so put together, minus the annoying crush on Sasuke. He actually scoffed the first time he met her parents and saw her. He thought there was no way she would ever make it. She was like this little pink princess. At least that is what he thought. How wrong he was. He had to look away. He let his eye move to Sasuke, who was now staring into the fire grimacing. Neither of them knew what to say.

"I am sorry Sakura, I just assumed." Kakashi shifted his weight and scratched the back of his neck. She looked over at him and gave him a small smile.

"Don't worry about it. There was a lot going on at the time. I mean you had to deal with Naruto going all Kyuubi, Sasuke and his revenge, then the constant threat of the war. I mean my family issues are small compared to that." She shrugged.

"We should have been there for you though." He murmured.

"Well, it all turned out fine in the end." She said as she moved her eye patch and rubbed her eye. Sasuke just snorted quietly. No it did not turn out fine in the end, was what Kakashi was thinking. There was no need for her to endure that by herself. Her team should have given her support. He knew all too well what it was like having to go through those type of things as a child.

"We should get ready to go down for the night." Sasuke said as he stood. He searched through one of his hip pouched and brought out a medicine bottle. "Kakashi and I will take the watch, and you can sleep. Here you forgot to get these from the pharmacy. Take them." He threw the pill bottle at Sakura, who caught it and frowned as she looked at it.

"No, it's fine I can take a watch." She said as she began to put the bottle into her hip pouch. In a flash Sasuke was next her her, his hand over her wrist.

"No. I said that Kakashi and I could handle it. You take the damn pills and sleep. This was actually last months prescription. How long has it been since you have slept Sakura?" She looked up at him and glared. Her nose began to flare and her mouth was about to open when Sasuke pulled the bottle from her hands and opened it. He fished a pill out and held it in front oh her. "Take the pill." He growled. Sakura sneered at him as she held her hand out for him to drop the pill into.

"Does Tsunade pay you to be my nanny when you are in town?" She asked as she threw the pill into her mouth and swallowed it dry. She glared at him as she opened her mouth and moved her tongue around to show that she swallowed it.

"No, but I think that I may bring that up to her when I get back. I still have some large renovations to do at the house." Sasuke smiled at her as he scratched his chin. Sakura snorted then began to roll out her bed roll. Kakashi's gaze flicked back and forth from Sakura to Sasuke. Once she laid down her sleeping area she sat on top of her bed roll, glaring at the fire and rubbing her temples. Sasuke sat on the other side of the fire, a triumphant smirk on his face as he poked the embers in the fire. Kakashi ran his tongue over his front teeth as he attempted to figure out their relationship. He looked over to Sakura again who's eye was beginning to glass over and droop a bit. "Sakura, why do you have to fight it every time?" Sasuke sighed and shook his head.

"I mmm not figgghhting it." Sakura moved her head slowly to look at Sasuke. Her eye drooping a bit more with each blink. "I know qhen I m tirred." Her eye brow slowly raised. "I m now." She suddenly tipped over from her sitting position with a dull thud. Sasuke stood up taking a deep breath and walked over to her and covered her up. Kakashi knew that he had a dumb look on his face. What was that all about? It felt like it could be humorous if the whole thing wasn't tragic. Sasuke stood up and looked over at him and just shrugged a bit.

"You should go to sleep Sensei, I'll take the first watch." Sasuke said as he walked over to his pack and started to take out some notebooks. Kakashi set out his bed roll but he wasn't tired at all. He looked over at Sasuke to see that he was furiously writing on his pad. The Uchiha blinked and activated his sharingan and looked over at Sakura. He looked for a few moments, then set his attention back onto the paper. Kakashi sat and watched that scene repeat several times before his curiosity got the better of him. He pulled himself up and slowly walked over to Sasuke and looked down at the notebook that was sitting in his lap. Sasuke was working on an intricate depiction of the brain. He was currently tracing the nerve system? Kakashi wasn't sure.

"So looking into a career change or is neurology a hobby?" Kakashi asked as he studied the notebook over Sasuke's shoulder. The ravine hair boy cocked his head and looked up at Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

"Something like that." He said as he made a notation in the corner of the page. He sighed and snapped the book closed and looked up at his ex sensei. "You should be asleep Kakashi." The older jonin just shrugged and took a seat next to him.

"Can't sleep." They both sat for a few moments in silence before Kakashi couldn't take the curiosity any longer. "So Sasuke, when I left on my mission, you and Sakura were engaged." Sasuke didn't look at him he kept his gaze on the fire. Kakashi noticed that as he brought up the topic that his former student stiffened and his lips pursed. "Are you two still together?" There he asked it. He had to know for sure.

"No." Sasuke said as he closed his eyes and frowned. Kakashi found his brow raising while watching his reaction.

"What happened?" Sasuke took a deep breath and his mouth was about to open when both men were distracted when Sakura rolled over in her bed roll.

"My bakery is condemned." She murmured as she tilted her head up and pulled her eye patch off. Two sets of eyes narrowed at her, but her eyes remained shut as she began to lightly snore. Sasuke sighed and shook his head. Kakashi squinted at her and realized that her henge had been dropped. The light of the fire shadowing the scars on her face.

"That is one of the reasons why she hates the pills. She talks in her sleep with them. You can actually hold a whole conversation with her." Sasuke ran his hand down his cheek. "Oh, sometimes she walks around on them also. You should probably know that when you take your watch." Kakashi nodded as he kept his gaze fixed on the sleeping woman. He would rather have her talking in her sleep and walking rather then have her screaming in a corner.

"What does she mean her bakery is condemned?" He asked as he tore his eyes off of her and looked at Sasuke, who's frown deepened. Sasuke shifted uneasily and began to chew his tongue. He looked over as Kakashi and took a deep breath in.

"She hangs out too much with Anko and Siugetsu," he shook his head. "Right before we were going to get married, the elders ordered a full physical. The tests came back that she is sterile." Kakashi bit his lip and furrowed his brow as he looked at Sasuke. He left her because she can't have children. He let his gaze travel to Sakura's sleeping form. She had given everything for this man, chased him for years, would have died for him, and he could turn his back over that? There were other ways to have children, invetro, surrogates. Kakashi then glared at Sasuke who was holding his head in his hands.

"I was an arrogant child, that grew to be an arrogant fool of a man who took far too much for granted." Sasuke looked over at Kakashi. Anguish swirled in his eyes like a hurricane. It had been a long time since he had seen such emotion from the Uchiha, actually he didn't know if he had seen that much emotion from him before. Well emotion other then killing rage. "I thought that you all would be there, no matter what. I use to think that the dedication to me was ridiculous and pathetic. I never understood it. I never understood her devotion to me." Sasuke looked over at Sakura his brow furrowed. "Even when I came home, I took the team for granted. Naruto, her, and you would always be there no matter how annoying I thought it was. I asked her to marry me just for heirs, I thought of her no more then an ideal genetic candidate. I mean the elders gave me two years to start reviving the clan, that was one of their conditions when I came home. I didn't think that I loved her, but I knew she would make a good mother... She really would have." He smiled sadly and looked back at Kakashi. "So when we found out that she could not have any, well I mean I was disappointed, but I just figure she would still be around. I ended it, and the coldest way possible. I said that if she could not produce a child in her womb, then she was not fit enough to be an Uchiha matriarch."

Kakashi snorted as his hands balled into fists. "She is too good to be an Uchiha matriarch." He growled out.

"Don't think I don't understand that?" Sasuke hissed. "She... She is in the mess that she is in because of me. She fucking had to try and save everyone. She had to fucking save me when I... And that damned girl. If I didn't leave with HER, if I didn't complete the mission." He shook his head and looked up at the sky. He swallowed thickly, his adam apple bobbing. "I looked for her after. I didn't think she was dead. I looked for a year, and couldn't find a thing. Everyday I couldn't find her it felt like something was ripping me apart." He whispered.

"You love her." Kakashi said quietly. Sasuke just gave a curt nod.

"Hn...but I screwed up one too many times. I figured it out too late," A dry laugh passed his lips. "Seems to be a running theme for me. I can't see what is in front of me until it is gone. She no longer can see me that way." He said softly. "I am just happy she survived." Kakashi nodded and looked up to the stary sky. He felt guilty. He felt guilty that he was happy that they were not together. Why did Sasuke have to be a human being now? It made despising him so much more difficult.

"So you torture yourself now? Constantly being around her?" Kakashi asked as he scratched his chin. Sasuke looked over at him, a small smirk on a face that was other wised painted in agony. He let out a dry chuckle.

"No not torturing myself. Just trying to be the stone that she was once for me. She needs people to fight for her right now, even if she doesn't want to fight for herself. There aren't too many people in her corner. I will always be there for her. It's the least I can do." He pursed his lips and looked back over at the girl who murmured something and rolled over again. Kakashi scratched the back of his neck in confusion, hoping that the Uchiha lips would remain loose.

"I don't get it. What isn't she fighting for?" He was looking intently at Sasuke. Sasuke looked over at him out of the corner of his eye. A war waging with in them as he watched his former sensei. Kakashi watched as the muscle in his jaw ticked.

"It's not my place to say." Sasuke said as his features began to soften. Kakashi sighed, he had hit another wall. He knew that he was going to have to ask Sakura about what was going on very soon. The fact that Sasuke said that she wasn't fighting for herself had made his stomach sour. He needed to know that she was ok, though the manner in which Sasuke talked and treated her, made him think she was far from it. "You should try and get some sleep. Your watch will be here soon, we have about nine hours of traveling ahead of us." Sasuke said as he pulled his notebook out and began once again dictating in in. "Oh, I need you to wake me first, before Sakura." Kakashi curtly nodded at him before making his way into his bed roll.

A few hours later Sasuke woke him to take his watch. Kakashi quickly ran a perimeter check, and tended the fire. He pulled out his Icha Icha and settled in for the rest of the night.

The watch was uneventful. Sakura talked in her sleep a few times, but nothing that he could understand. Most of it medical jargon that he had never heard. The Uchiha slept like the dead. The sun had rose for a few hours before he walked over to Sasuke and woke him up as he wished. Before Kakashi made it over to Sakura he felt a hand on his shoulder pulling him back. He automatically turned and grabbed Sasuks wrist.

"Don't wake her up yet." Sasuke said as he side stepped around Kakashi. He walked slowly and silently over to where Sakura was lying. He crouched and pulled out her pack, he searched for a moment then pulled out her pill container. He dug through each compartment taking out a small blue pill. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the boy. What right did he have to mess with her medication?

"Sasuke." His tone was firm and laced with warning. Sasuke looked up at him as he placed the container back into the bag.

"She can't take these until she trains. They hinder her, but I know that she will refuse because you are here. She cannot afford to miss training." He stood up, placing the pills into his pockets and walked away. "You can wake her." He said with a smirk as he began to break down the camp. Kakashi stood and watched Sasuke for a moment, then his eyes fell on Sakura. He had a feeling that once he woke her up that all hell was going to break loose. Taking a deep breath he walked over to her, he took a moment to look at her sleeping form. Her henge was down and the way she was sleeping the scarred side of her face was showing the most. He scanned the rough surface of her burn scars, the jagged divot where the flesh was missing on the lobe of her ear, the raised scars across her nose. He wanted to run his finger over them, find out made them. Kill who ever did that to her. He wished he could have found her before any of that shit had ever happened to her. He stilled and took a deep breath, the rage was rising in him. He unballed his hands, when did he even clench his hands? He forced his body to relax as he placed a hand on her shoulder. He gave her a gentle shake while whispering her name.

Her eyes flew open, one a vibrant green, the milky way eye flashing black then red under the white orbs. Kakashi stood and stared into her eye, he felt the constant pull of genjutsu the release. His vision became blurry as scenes from reality and the casting flashed quickly. The images happening so quickly that he couldn't even tell what they were. Though the smell that accompanied the images came through clearly. Blood, urine, rotting flesh, mildew, rich earth. It was a smell that he never wanted to experience first hand.

"Oh god, Kakashi." Sakura's voice was panic laced as she slapped his face. His vision finally clearing as he looked at her. She was now in a crouch that was mimicking his, her red eye hidden behind her eyelid. "Are you ok?" Her green eye wide as she looked at him. He just shook his head clear.

"Fine, I am fine." He said as he stood up. She slowly stood in front of him her eye never leaving his face.

"I am so sorry." She said softly as she bent down and searched her bedroll for her eye patch. Once she found it she quickly pulled it on. "Seriously I am sorry, are you sure you are ok?" She sheepishly asked as she messed with the straps.

"Don't worry about it Sakura, I am fine." He smiled to hide his bewilderment. She had some type of sharingan. He figured that, but he had never seen one act in that manner before. Also how was she able to activate and deactivate it? He had never known of some one with an Uchiha implant to command it in any manner. Well that was besides the Mangekou, but to be able to shut it off. That was something that he dreamed of doing when he had his.

"Ok, well I'll go ahead and start breakfast." She began to walk past him then stopped next to him. "I am really sorry." She sighed and then continued past him. She suddenly tensed as she looked at him over his shoulder. Her mouth pulled into a tight line before she brought up her henge once again. She looked away and then quickly went to work on breakfast. While she cooked he packed his belonging then headed to the stream to fill all the canteens. Once he was back she was done with heating up some rice and had sectioned some dry fish to share. They ate in silence. Sakura seemed to be embarrassed still, but the two men were quite because they knew the storm that was about to erupt. As she took her last bite of food Kakashi grimaced. She placed her bowl down and pulled over her bag. He flashed his gaze over to Sasuke, who was intent at looking at the contents of his bowl and was chewing at an abnormally slow pace.

"Who went into my bag?" Sakura growled as she looked at the pills in her hand. "Actually I don't even have to ask." She glared at Sasuke, who innocently placed more rice into his mouth. Once again he chewed slowly, but he looked up and kept is gaze steady.

"Why would I go into your bag?" Sasuke asked sweetly.

"You took the fucking pills Sasuke." Sakura slammed he bag down and marched over to Sasuke. "Give them back!" She yelled as she held out her hand to him. Sasuke swallowed his rice slowly.

"You can have one after we train." He said as he slowly put his bowl down next to him. Sakura took a deep and hardened her glare even more. For fleeting second she glanced over at Kakashi.

"We can train once we get back to Konoha." She growled as she shook her hand at him.

"You need to train every day. It is the only way to make it work." Sasuke said as he stood up and looked down at the petite girl.

"We can pick it up in a few days." She snarled, her nose scrunching as she looked up at him.

"Well then you can go with out your pills for a few days." Sasuke said as he turned to walk away. Sakura stood there with her mouth hanging open for a few moments. Kakashi's brows were raised as he watched the scene in front of him. He didn't know what to do...yet again. He did not think you should mess with anyone's medication, but then again why would Sasuke do it? Was this like an addiction?

"Fuck you Uchiha!" Sakura screeched as she regained her composure. She ran up to him and grabbed his shoulder. "Give me my damned chakra repressor!" She screamed while she turned him to face her. At that Kakashi's eyes widened and his whole body stiffened.

"Why are you taking chakra repressors?" The words just fell out of his mouth before Kakashi could even think. Sakura and Sasuke's gazes snapped to him. The Uchiha's face remained blank, but Sakura's contorted in several emotions that Kakashi couldn't pin point. Slowly her face began to flush with a blush.

"That is none of your business Hatake." Her voice low as she looked at him.

"I think that it may be. I mean, we are partners, I need to know if there is something that will inhibit your performance." He took a step forward to her. This wasn't how he wanted to talk about what was wrong with her, but this news was shocking. She was hindering her chakra on purpose. That could not be good. She scoffed at him.

"You don't know what you are talking about. There is no need to worry, just let it go." She shook her head, her hands beginning to shake.

"I don't think I can do that Sakura." Kakashi said as he began to ball his fists.

"Sure you can, just go take another three year mission and leave without a word. You won't have to worry about a thing that way. Not even your damned plant. Which is dead. No one came for it when they thought I was dead. Anyways, just go. I won't be back by then anyways." Her body was trembling her eyes began to water. Kakashi froze in place. He was surprised to hear the anger directed at him. He was even more surprised at her last words. She wouldn't be here in three years.

"Sakura!" Sasuke hissed. "Fifteen minutes, or just some genjutsu. That is all I am asking, then you can take your fucking pill! Just please, please just train." She looked over at Sasuke. She stared at him for a minute then flipped her eye patch. Before making eye contact Sasuke blinked and activated his sharingan. They then stood there standing still as statues staring at each other. Kakashi knew what was happening. There was a battle happening in front of him, just one that he could not see. They stood there for nearly fifteen minutes. Beads of sweat began on each of their temples, and their skin began to pale. Kakashi just stood there and watched them. There was nothing else he could do.

Suddenly both fell to their knees and began to pant. Sakura reached up and flipped down her patch before she pulled herself up. Her movements were jerky as she walked to Sasuke.

"There, now give me the pills." Sasuke wiped the his forehead on the back of his hand. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pill and placed it in her hand. She snapped it away from him and looked down at him scowling. "You did that to me hundreds of times. You just have to deal with it once." She spat at him. She then threw the pill in her mouth and dry swallowed, stomping over to a tree and smashing her hand into it. Causing it to snap and fall into the surrounding foliage. After releasing some anger she grabbed her pack and bed roll and began to walk away.

"We are leaving." She yelled with out even looking back. Kakashi looked over at Sasuke who was still on his knees, his hand fisted into his hair. He was still panting and his eyes were unfocused. Kakashi made his way over to the younger man and placed his hand on his shoulder, causing Sasuke to jump.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he looked down at the raven hair man. Sasuke grunted as he forced himself from the ground and gathered his belongings. "Sasuke, what the hell happened?" Kakashi watched as he put his belonging in his pack. Sasuke looked at him, then suddenly began to vomit. He vomited everything he had eaten, and then dry heaved for a few moments.

"What did she show you?" Kakashi asked softly as he handed him a canteen of water. Sasuke took it and rinsed his mouth then drank greedily.

"Me... raping then killing her." Sasuke shook his head. "Let's go, before she gets too far ahead."

The two men quiclkly caught up with her. No words were spoke as they walked. What could really be said after that. Sakura walked stiffly not looking at either of her traveling companions, Sasuke wouldn't raise his gaze off of the ground, and Kakashi walked watching the two with his hands shoved in his pockets. This was beyond awkward.

The afternoon slowly made it's appearence when Sakura slowed down. "I need to eat something, so let's break." She said not looking at either of them. They moved to the side of the road and each found a tree to lean under. Sakura raided her pack and found some jerky and an apple, and quivkly began to devore it. Kakashi just pulled out a meal replacement bar, while Sasuke just sat looking at the ground. Kakashi couldn't help but be concerned for him. What Sakura put him through.. His stomach clenched as he looked at the expression on Sasuke's face. He looked unstable.

"I am a monster." Sakura said softly. Kakashi looked over at her and she was staring at Sasuke who still was looking at the ground. "There was no reason why I should have done that. You should never have seen that." Her gaze was steady but a small tremble began in her bottom lip. "That was not your burden to carry, I should not have placed it on you." At those words Sasuke looked up, his eyes narrowed.

"No Sakura. That is not a burden that you need to carry alone." He shook his head slowly as he talked. "No one should handle things like that alone. I wish that you didn't use it as a weapon, but you need to let some one in Sakura. It's too much for one person." Sakura studied his face, her eyes slightly narrowed and a frown on her face.

"I am strong enough." Her voice was quite but steeley. Kakashi couldn't help but glare at her. Why? Why push everyone away? He wanted to go and shake her, but knew that would probably just make it worse.

"For the love of Kami, Sakura. I wasn't saying that you are not strong, because the gods know no one else would have survived." He sighed as he pushed his head back roughly into the tree. "What has happened and is happening is too much for anyone, and I mean anyone! Have you ever thought that's why.."

"Of course! But Sasuke." Her waterline began to fill with tears and her lip was trembling harder.

"There is no fucking time! I know! You have told me that enough. Damn it, you need to make time! You are just as fucking important! Gods! have you thought about Naruto? Sai? ME? Kakashi? For Kami sakes Jugo?" Sasuke stood and stomped over to her, his eyes glowing read as he stared down breathing heavily. Sakura just looks down at the ground and took a deep breath in.

"I am a shinobi, and for that I must put the interest of the village first. Sacrifices must..."

"Fuck this! I have heard it before. I am walking ahead I can't deal with that shit." Sasuke grabbed his belonging and stomped off. Kakashi watched as he disappeared past the trees. His gaze then fell of Sakura who was still leaning against the tree her eye closed. Her breathing deep in an attempt to calm herself.

"What are you sacrificing?" His voice came out colder then he intended. But by they way Sasuke and her had fought about this he was pretty sure he knew. She slowly opened her eye and took a deep breath.

"If you could possibly stop something that could kill thousands, possibly even more, would you risk your life?" As she asked the question she began to look very tired. She knew what his answer was: yes, of course. Though he could admit that he did have a martyer complex, which he hoped that he didn't pass on to his students. Obviously he was wrong.

"You know what my answer would be." He looked at her lazily as a humorless smirk filled her face. "Thought I would also ask for help if I was in need." As fast as the smile was on her face it began to fall.

"Alright a different question. Would you commit treason, if it meant stopping a war to start, and saving thousands of lives.. lives of your loved ones?" Kakashi's whole body tensed at her words. That is actually a question that he had pondered himself countless times. Many believed that his father committed treason when he saved his team instead of completing his mission. Kakashi just thought of it as a failed mission, now full out treason. That was far different then failing an objective. Would he willing do it? He honestly didn't know.

"Well.. It's hard to say with out knowing the details. I guess it would depend." He scratched the back of his neck as he looked at her. She took a deep breath then smiled at him with a fake smile that he was learning to despise.

"Hypothetical. The question was hypothetical." She said in a too cheery voice as she began to stand up. "We should get going we are not far." She pulled on her pack and began to walk away. Slowly he pushed himself off of the ground and gathered his belongings. Well shit, things just keep getting more and more complicated.

Kakashi caught up with Sakura, though there was no Sasuke in sight. Not wanting to poke the bear right now he kept his mouth shut and just walked behind her. He kept thinking about her questions and decided that the woman in front of him may have caused and ulcer with the amount of twisting his stomach was doing. He took a deep breath and pushed his hand through his unruly hair as he looked around the forest. It was familiar, but her knew that it had been years since he came in this direction. As he attempted to think of why he knew the area, they walked up to a small cave. At the entrance Sasuke stood leaning on the stone surface. Sakura passed him with out saying a word. Sasuke looked to Kakashi and shrugged as he began to follow her in.

They walked quietly through the maze of corridors of the cave. After a few minutes they descended upon a large dimly light room. The smell of urine and blood thick in the air. Hundred of crated animals lined the room. Kakashi looked into the nearest cage, it was definitely an animal of some sort, but he honestly couldn't tell what it was. It was like a mass of pink skin. You could barely tell the difference between it's head and it's rear end. Suddenly the blob like creature jumped to the front of it's cage, guttural noises of pain, and anger filled the air. Kakashi stepped back from the creature to follow Sakura and Sasuke to the middle of the room. He walked and shook his head trying to get the image of that creature out of his head.

"Oh, goodness." An oily voice came out of a doorway on the far side of the room that had every hair on Kakashi standing straight up. It was one voice he had hoped that he would never hear again, but of course he wasn't going to be that lucky. "Look who we have here. Sakura-chan, why isn't it a pleasant surprise. Oh and you Brought Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-kun. " Orochinmaru glided into the room. "Here I was only expecting Karin." He smiled as he slowly ran his eyes up and down the three ninjas.

"She couldn't make it this time. I decided to get the information my self." Sakura's tone was flat as she looked at the Sannin. "You do have the data right?"

"Of course I do. I wouldn't let you down Sakura-chan" He onced again ran his eyes up an down her frame, which was extreamly unpleasent for Kakashi to watch. Frankly being in the same room as Orochimaru was extremely unpleasent. The fact also only a few hours ago Sakuea had been talking about treason then end up in one of his caves made it so much worse. "Follow me to the lab, and we'll get you that data you so dearly want."

They quitely followed Orochimaru through a few hallways to a large room that was filled with beakers, viales, tubes, liquide of all different colors and scrolls covering tables, and bookselves. The Sanin walked over to one table and began to search through the contents.

"I do apologize, it has been difficult to keep up with everything since Kabuto has departed." He sighed as he moved more scrolls. "You don't realise what good help someone is until they are gone." He then began to hum and murmmer as he pushed the scrolls around, occassionally taking one and briefly reading it before putting it done. None of them said anything to the man, just stood and watched as he searched.

"Oh yes, here it is." He looked up at Sakura and smiled. "You know it is a shame that I did not have this information ten years ago. Things may have been very different." He said as he held out the scroll to her, as he lightly licked his lips.

"Hmmm, a shame." Sakura said as she took the scroll. She quickly opened it and read the contents. Kakashi and Sasuke watched her intently and both took note that her breath stopped while her eye widened. "And this came from your north base?" Orochimaru nodded with a smug look on his face. "It was not compromised. You are positive?" She said as she rolled up the scroll and placed it in her pack.

"There is no one that knew of that base besides Kabuto and I. Not even my dear Sasuke-kun here." He gave a sickly smile and he looked over at the Uchiha, who just stood there and scowled at him. "Thought I honestly do not know how we missed that information."

"Should have, would have could have." Sakura said as she glared at him. "Do you believe that his location in in the same area? Also do you know the statis of the clan?"

"Always so eager to get down to buisness Sakura-chan."He purred as he took a step forward which caused both Sasuke and Kakashi to stiffen. Sakura though just took another step towards him and set her shoulderds. "As far as the information in the newest bingo book, he is alive and still in Snow. As for the clan. It is impossible to tell. You know how the rural folk don't tend to register with hidden villages or even their dynamos." He said as he leaned into her, their cheeks inches apart and his mouth inches from he,r he flicking his long tounge out a few times. The sannin closed hes eyes and took a deep breath in through his nose. A small shiver ran through her body that was not unoticed by Kakashi. The actions of the man in front of him were causing bile to rise in his throat. "I do so love that new smell. It reeks of opportunity." Sakura's jaw ticked and her eye widened as she quickly took a step back. She glaring at him she shook her head slowly. Orochimaru just sighed and smirked. "Too bad it's going to be a wasted opportunity." They had another staring contest before her gaze went to Sasuke and Kakashi.

"Let's head out." She turned on her heal and began to walk out of the room with out so much as a single glance back.

"It was so nice to see you Sakura-chan. I do hope to see you again." Orochimaru called out with a small laugh that echoed through the halls.


	5. Chapter 5

Sakura walked quickly and stiffly out of Orochimaru's cave. The two men who followed her stayed close and kept a worried gaze on her. Kakashi flanked her and kept eyeing her pursed lip and scrunched nose. Every so often she shook her head as she thought of something that wasn't pleasant. Sasuke also walked besides her, his face stoic, but his eyes slightly narrowed. The snake Sannin had properly creeped out the trio.

They walked silently for about a mile, when Sakura lost her composure. She jumped and flailed her arms and legs as if she was shaking bugs off of them. Her sudden movement made both men jump.

"Uuuuurrggg!" She roared out while still shaking her arms. "Ewww, ewww, eww!" She shook her head making her hair whip around. "There is a stream just over here, I need to stop there." She said as she abruptly turned ans walked past Sasuke. The men followed her with out saying a work, thought both had their brows raised as they watched her walk and try to shake off whatever she was imagining on her skin. They quickly came to the stream and Sakura knelt next to it, pooling water in her hand then rubbing it onto her neck roughly. She sighed and repeated the process several times. She stopped for a moment and turned to look at Sasuke.

"How? How did you live with that for two years?" She snorted as she scrubbed her neck.

"Well, he didn't exactly hit on me, or lick me." Sasuke shrugged as he shook his head. Both Sakura and Kakashi narrowed their gaze at him. "Kabuto was actually alot creepier." Sakura snarled then clicked her tongue at him. "Plus if you want to know how some one can deal with an extended time of being with him, you should ask Tsunade. She was on his team for far longer then I was with him."

"There is no way he could have been that way back then." Sakura shook her head and began to stand up.

"Eh, he was pretty off his rocker back when I was a teenager." Kakashi said as he watched her stand. "I think that type of personality is more bred then learned." He let out a dry laugh. Sakura just sighed and shook the remaining water off of her hands.

"We should look for a place to set up camp. I really want to be back in Konoha by tomorrow night." She looked around and thought for a moment. "Well maybe we should go a few more miles away." She looked at them with wary eyes. Kakashi just smirked and gave her a small nod.

"I am fine with whatever." Sasuke said in a bored tone. With that she lead the group five miles closer to their home. They quickly made camp and Sakura began to make dinner. There was a heaviness that fell on the group. The feeling made Kakashi frown as he looked at the blank faces that sat across the fire from him. There was still soo much going on that he didn't understand, and it was now getting to the point were he just wanted to pull his hair out. He watched them as he pondered if he should just ask. The only thing that was stopping him was the presence of Sasuke. He was positive that the boy knew more then probably anyone, but he didn't want to make Sakura any more uncomfortable then she had to be. He knew that she wasn't going to want to answer him, but he was going to get answers, and soon.

Looking once more at Sasuke he decided that he was going to wait till they were back home. It would be easiest there and not out here with a third wheel. So he sat and watched as Saukra prepared some soup with a few vegetables.. He smirked to himself, thankful she was off of her food pill kick. While yes they worked, he assumed licking the anus of a bear might taste better. A small shudder ran through him at the though. Though that did seem like a challenge that Gai would bring up. He was brought out of his, rather disgusting, musing when Sakura walked over and handed him a small bowl and a set of chop sticks. He thanked her and quickly ate what she had handed to him.

They really didn't talk the rest of the night. Once again Sasuke said that the two men would take watch, which lead to Sakura huffing and puffing. Then the huffing and puffing became raging and yelling as Sasuke told her to take another sleeping pill. Kakashi just sat there and watched as they fought for twenty minutes before she finally took the pill. Less then five minutes later she fell from her sitting position, knocked out cold. Sasuke repeated the events of the night before, he walked over and covered her and then began to write in his tablet of paper.

"Who else is there?" Kakashi asked as he looked over the fire to Sasuke. Who slowly looked up and arched a brow.

"I don't think I am quite following you." He cocked his head and his mouth pulled into a small frown.

"Who else is looking out for her?" He nodded his head as he gestured to Sakura's sleeping form. Sasuke just looked at him for a moment and furrowed his brows.

"I guess it's just me and Genma most the time. Naruto helps when he can, but he is out of the village a lot, and Tsunade... Well she is the Hokage, and the village comes first no matter what." He spit out the last sentence. "Oh and Sai, but he is twisted around her fingers." He shook his head and smirked.

"Last I knew you didn't get along with him." Kakashi mused out loud.

"He's fucking weird Kakashi." He shrugged. "But he cares for her also in his robo way." Kakashi had to hold back a laugh. Sasuke of all people complaining that some one was robotic and strange, well that was just ironic.

"What happened with Genma? I saw no love there when I ran into you at the bar." Kakashi mused while he scratched his chin. Sasuke just snorted at him.

"When did you become so nosy Hatake?"

"Probably when you became so chatty Uchiha." Sasuke just huffed and rolled his eyes. Kakashi let out a small sigh. "I have been gone for a while, and a lot has changed. More then I thought would. I am just trying to catch up on what I missed." He shrugged. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, he knew that when Kakashi went digging that there was normally a reason.

"Fine, Genma, you know he is a guard to the Hokage right? Well he was on duty the day that I broke it off with Sakura. He thinks that I am a cold heartless prick.. His words. He still think that I am traitor, and that I will hurt Sakura again. You know the funny thing is, I don't have a problem with him at all. Actually I think that if he didn't hate me I would get along with him rather well." Sasuke shrugged. Kakashi just studied the man for a moment his brow furrowing in contemplation. This was before Genma found Sakura, why would he have been upset about the break up? He knew that Sakura and him were acquaintances, but barely. Or had he been wrong?

"Why would Genma care so much?" Kakashi finally asked.

"I don't know. I mean I know that they talked when she worked at the Hokage tower, and that he would request her at the hospital." Sasuke shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "And I know that he was interested in "nailing" her at some point, but he is interesting nailing anything with a hole between it's legs." Frankly the thought of Genma and Sakura together made him feel ill. For some reason it was worse then thinking about her and Sasuke, perhaps it was because he was a friend? That he was an unexpected rival?

"Are they together now?" Kakashi asked and them began to chew his inner cheek.

"I don't think so. I mean I know that she spends a lot of time with him, and I am umm.. well you know.."

"No I don't." Kakashi's voice was flat as he looked over at Sasuke.

"Get together for adult activities." Sasuke grimace and looked like he was about to vomit. "But neither has said anything about a relationship." Sasuke pause for a moment and looked at Kakashi. He knew that the Uchiha was debating about saying something, He just raised an eye brow and waited. "Tsunade said that it would not be uncommon for Sakura to... um... medicate, herself with sex." He took another deep breath. "She said that it may help or hinder. I don't know. I try not to get involved in that subject." Sasuke shifted uncomfortably looking into the fire. Kakashi just pursed his lips. It was probably not the best time to have him talking about this subject after what Saukra showed him. Time to get off that topic.

"What is wrong with her?" He asked bluntly. Sasuke stiffened and looked at him.

"I can't say."

"Really Sasuke?"

"Yes really. I was told not to say anything about what I know. That if Sakura wants some one to know she will tell them. I can't go against the Hokage and her. I do value my life." Sasuke pursed his lips. Kakashi stared at Sasuke for a moment as a plan formed in his mind. He would do the honorable thing, at first. He would ask Sakura about what he wanted to know, but if that got him no where, well he would dig up her records.

"Go to sleep Sasuke, I'll take the first watch." Kakashi said as he stood. Sasuke just nodded and pulled out his bed roll and prepared to sleep.

His watch was eventful to say the least. It started with Sakura talking in her sleep. Tonight she had a thing with redecorating, she was musing on different colors for the rooms of her home. Kakashi would make a comment once in a while and she would respond. He couldn't help but chuckle when he offered that she she paint her entire house hot pink. She scrunched her nose and shook her head. He frowned a bit as he watched the scars across her nose deepen with her expression.

Though the light feeling didn't last long. He took his eyes off of her for a moment, then suddenly she was standing in a crouched position. She began to pull at her eye patch causing the straps to snap. A low growl leaving her throat.

"Sakura?" He said softly as he slowly began to stand. A dry laugh left her mouth.

"What no three two six? When have we become familiar Joso?" She snarled. Kakashi watched as she took a step back her eyes still shut.

"Sakura, it's Kakashi." He slowly began to take a step forward, making sure to make as little noise as possible.

"Not going to work asshole. You won't get me to stop this time." Sakura let out a manic laugh before pulling her sleeve up and putting her wrist to her mouth. She grinned widely before quickly biting down. Kakashi's eyes widened for a brief moment before he rushed over to her. He knocked her form to the ground pinning her under him. He tried to pull her wrist from her mouth but she only bit down harder and he could hear the wet tearing of flesh. He panicked for a second not knowing how to get her to stop, but then he thought of how to loosen a dog bite. So he pushed her wrist further into her mouth making her jaw pop and her to gag. It gave him enough time to grab her wrists and shove them above her head. He held tightly trying to keep pressure on her wound. He could feel the blood pumping out against his skin.

"Sasuke!" He yelled as he struggled to calm her. It felt like there was so much blood coming out. "Sasuke get your fucking ass up! Now!" Kakashi winced and gasped as she thrust her hips up hard.

"Get the fuck off of me!" She screamed, her face paling as it contorted in rage. Kakashi jumped when he saw two pale hands grab on to her face. He looked over to see Sasuke crouched next to them, his sharingan activated. His eyes roamed back to the woman under him. Sasuke's long fingers began to pull her her eye lids open and pull her face towards him. The moment he made eye contact Kakashi could feel her body relax. He took a shaky breath and watched as Sasuke removed his hands, she looked peaceful. His attention turned to the the wet sticky feeling under his hand.

"What the fuck happened?" Sasuke hissed as he watched Kakashi pull her arm to him, the blood dripping down her pale skin.

"I don't know. She said something about a number, then called me Joso. After that she bit down on her wrist." He took his hand away for a moment to look at the damage. It looked bad, and there was a lot of blood, but it didn't seem like she got the vein. Well, Kakashi hoped that she didn't but he was no medic. "Grab her bag we need to wrap her wrist. Sasuke nodded and went through her bags and pouches until he found the medic kit. He walked over to Kakashi and pulled out the gauze wincing a bit as he saw the wound. Quickly the two men bandaged her.

"I know that I will not be able to sleep, what about you?" Sasuke said as he ran a shaky hand through his hair. Kakashi just shook his head, not trusting his voice. "You want to get moving? We can be back home by morning if we leave now and take to the trees." With a curt nod he began to pack up the site and put out the fire. It took all of five minuted then the two found themselves bounding from branch to branch as quickly as they could.

The whole way home Kakashi's mind was raging. What he saw, well that was worse then any nightmare that he had in a long time. His stomach clenched as he thought of Sakura killing herself. He knew it was a flash back, but he wondered how many times that scene had happened to her. "You won't be able to stop me this time." Her words haunted him. As he ran on hand grabbed onto her wrists. He lifted each up and glanced at them. There were several deep scars that were in the shape of bite marks. He frowned, but kept on moving.

"How many times has she tried to kill herself?" He asked as he pushed himself forward to run in line with Sasuke.

"This will be the tenth time. It only happened when she is confused, and never has happened while she was sleeping." Sasuke said through gritted teeth. Well that certainly explains why she wasn't allowed solo missions. Though why she was doing any missions was beyond him. Unstable seemed to be an understatement for the current situation. Kakashi was never one for forcing a shinobi to be grounded, but it seemed like it would be in her best interest.

"It hasn't happened in a long time though." Sasuke said gently. "Not for about a year." He sighed then shook his head. "The pill might have been the cause." Kakashi just nodded. The rest of the run home was silent besides the soft thump of their feet against the tree and the sound of heavy breathing.

It was early morning when they were only a few miles away from the gates. Sasuke slowed down and looked over at Kakashi, his eyes then moving to Sakura's sleeping face. He took a deep breath in.

"Take her home, I will got see the Hokage. She won't be coming to for at least another five hours or so."

"Shouldn't we take her to the hospital?" Kakashi looked over at the Uchiha. Sasuke just shook his head.

"No, Tsunade will send some one to her house. It's better that she wakes up there then at hospital. She makes you seem like you love the place." Sasuke just rolled his eyes with a small shake of his head.

"Um, I don't know where she lives. Is she still in the apartment by the food district?"

"Oh. No she lives in her mom's house. It's near the Nara estates, next to the stream. You really can't miss it it's painted a horrendous purple." Kakashi nodded. There weren't too many houses on that side of town, and he knew the area well. The Hatake estates were not too far from there.

"She lives with her mom?" He furrowed a brow as he looked forward. After what she had told them the day before it didn't seem like she would want to be near the woman.

"No she lives in her old house. Her mom died a few years ago. Seppuku..." Sasuke looked away. " Guess it makes sense now." Kakashi just looked at the boy then back to the trees in front of him. He wasn't sure how to feel about that piece of information. He knew what it was like to have a parent kill themselves, but then again his father never laid a hand on him or used hateful words against him. He shook his head. That was not a topic that he wanted to stay on even just mentally.

They quickly reached the gates, Sasuke taking off to the Hokage and Kakashi walking to the Nara estates. Sasuke was right it really didn't take long for Kakashi to find the house. It was a bit hideous, two stories painted what was a one point a vibrant lilac color. The trim in pink. Frankly it looked like a doll house. Well a doll house that had been used by many children and had been abused properly. The lawn matched the disheveled state of the pealing paint. flower beds with a nice mix of weeds, grass that was over due for a cutting. Yard work and house up keep were one reason that Kakashi was grateful that he lived in an apartment. Perhaps he should hire a team of genin to take care of it for her he mused.

He carried her onto the porch and placed her down gently before searching her packs for some type of key. He found it quickly and opened the door. He tested her seals by placing one foot into her house. He was pleased with the pain and push back he felt. She took the same security measures that he had, which meant that he could easily break them. After a series of hand signs he walked in. There was no pushing sensation nor pain. At least she didn't feel the need to chakra lace the seal. He turned back and gently picked up Sakura. He walked into her home carrying her in his arms. The current state of her home was a bit shocking. No it wasn't dirty not really messy, it just looked like a lab. There were papers on all the counters and tables. There were several models of what looked to be DNA. White boards and black boards lined the walls of the living room. The kitchen, or what he assumed was the kitchen was filled with beakers, viles, chemistry equipment. This was not a home. No this was a work place.

He looked around trying to figure out where her bed room was when He spotted a stair well. He carefully climbed it holding tightly onto Sakura. Once he got to the top landing he opened the first door. Bathroom, next door, the room was filled with all types of boxes, the next was boxes again. The final door he opened was her room. A large king sized bed sat against the wall to the left, while on the right side of the room was a large desk which was full of paper work. Walking to the bed he gingerly placed her down, pulling the light blanket that was pooled to the side of the bed over her. He stood for a moment and let his eyes roam over her face, down her neck to the curves of her body. All he wanted to do was to lay next to her, to gather her back into his arms. He shook his head. That would probably not go over well with her. He had fought these urges for so long, a little longer wouldn't kill him. With a dramatic drawn out sigh he turned to leave. He became distracted when he reached the door to her room, which had shut partially on it's own. There stuck two pieces of paper that made his heart stop. It just kept getting worse and worse.

You are Haruno Sakura. Nin number 2132 Anbu Hyena.

You made it. This is REAL. All of it is REAL.

You can't stop. You have to figure it out.

He stared at the piece of paper for who knows how long. Did she wake up every day not knowing what was real and what wasn't? He knew she was having a hard time with her memories, was it worse then he thought? Before he could ponder on this further the door began to slowly open. He quickly grabbed a kunai and went behind the door. He prepared his body to strike, only relaxing when he saw the back of a woman with two long pig tails.

"Hatake, relax." Tsunade murmured with out even looking back. He quickly put the kunai away and took a step forward. He watched as Tsunade walked over to Sakura's bed and pulled the arm chair that was in the corner over to it. She sighed as she delicately pulled Sakura's bandaged wrist over. She slowly unwrapped it and discarded the gauze into a small trash can on the side of the bed. Her hand began to glow as she began to heal the wound. Kakashi couldn't help but watch as the skin began to regrow as the deep gouges her teeth had made became smaller and smaller. Once the skin was completely closed the green faded away from Tsunade's hands. Her eyes turned from her wrist to Sakuras face. She sat for a moment and just looked at her ex pupil. Her thumb mindlessly stroking Sakura's old scars. Kakashi pursed his lips, he felt he should leave, but didn't move. He didn't want to leave her to wake up by herself. Tsunade let go of her wrist and reached out to push pink strands of hair behind Sakura's hair. She leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Sakura's forehead. A small sniffle coming from the blonde woman. She pushed her chair back, quickly wiping the back of her hand against her eye. With another deep breath Tsunade turned to Kakashi, she nodded her head to the door.

Kakashi followed her down stairs and into the kitchen. He watched as she opened the fridge and scoffed. She turned to look at Kakashi, who was once again looking at all the testing equipment.

"Don't dig into what you see." Tsunade said as she took a few containers from the refrigerator and threw them into the trash. Kakashi just raised a brow and looked at her.

"Why? What is all this?"

"I don't know, neither of us should know, so don't dig if you know what is good for you." She narrowed her eyes at him. He returned the glare in full. "The Rock ambassador is going to show up any time. She need's to eat when she gets up and take these." She pulled some pills out of her pockets and put them on the counter. "She has nothing here. Can you get her something. I would send Genma, but he is currently meeting with the ambassadress and Sasuke... Anyways can you get her something to eat?" Kakashi gave a curt nod. "Healthy food... Thanks you Kakashi." She said as she placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. With that she left without and further departing words.

Kakashi stood there for a moment looking once again at all the lab equipment. Yes he was considered a genius but he had never really looked into genetics or chemistry so it was all like a foreign language. He sighed, it had been about an hour since Sasuke said that Sakura would be out for at least another five. He had some time to spare before getting food. With that thought he left for his apartment to get washed and a change of clothes.

Of course it took him longer then four hours to get back to Sakura's house. He had run into several people that felt the need to chat, not to mention the elderly lady that asked if he could help with her groceries. He inwardly groaned but helped her out. After he was through with all the random encounters he went made his way to the restaurant district and procured a late lunch/ early dinner.

It was early evening by the time he was walking to Sakura's house. He expected her to still be out. Even thought Sasuke said five hours he knew that when you used the sharingan it usually lasted a bit longer. So he was surprised to see Sakura sitting on the railing of her porch, her back against the house. She had clearly been awake for a while. She was wearing clean clothes and her wet hair was pulled back in a pony tail. She also had a new eye patch on. This one had a bulls eye painted on it. Now that one make him grimace a bit. Though the real shock came as he smelled the air. A distinct pungent smell began to fill his nose. It reminded him of sage, but with a skunky undertone. He looked up as Sakura just as she inhaled from the pipe she was holding. Her eyes closed as she rested her head back against the house.

"Are you smoking Sakura-chan?" Kakashi asked as he climbed the stairs to her house. She moved her head so she could look at him with her good eye. Her brow arched as she looked at him.

"No," She croaked out as smoke spilled from her mouth. At that Kakashi mimicked her and raised a brow. She half laughed half snorted and expelled the rest of the smoke. She coughed for a moment then smirked. "Ok, yeah. It's medicinal." She said as she pulled out the bowl and ran the flame of the lighter over the top. She took a deep breath then once again rested her head against the house. Kakashi stood and watched her perform her ritual several time. He didn't quite know what to make of the situation. So he walked over to her and took a seat.

"I brought food, which I am pretty sure you wouldn't mind right now." He said as he dug for her take out box. She exhaled and smiled. Her eye already glassed over and turning red. She opened the box grinned so large that she looked like the Cheshire cat.

"Oh my gods, tempura. You fucking got me tempura. I could kiss you." She said as she pulled out a fried vegetable and placed it in her mouth. She closed her eyes and groaned in satisfaction. The unadulterated noise made Kakashi take a sharp breath. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip as he watched her slowly take another bit. He shook his head and focused back to the other take out container.

"I also got you this." He handed her the smaller container. She put the tempura down and took the other container her breath hitched at the sight. Kakashi couldn't help but to chuckle at her response to the food.

"Dango! Dear lords!" She moaned as she picked up a skewer. She stiffed two balls in her mouth and moaned again. At this point Kakashi's pants were becoming a bit tight. He sighed and looked away. "Kakashi, thank you." She moaned again. "But you do not want to tell Tsunade or Sasuke what you brought me. But oh gods thank you." She turned her attention back to the tempura. Kakashi nodded and pulled out his food. They ate in silence, well no, Kakashi was silent as he listened to Sakura have mouth orgasms with every bite. It was absolute torture for him. This was not his intentions, he just knew they were some of her favorite foods. He had to shift his weight several times to keep all evidence of his arousal hidden.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he cleared his throat. She stuffed the last dango in her mouth and looked over at him.

"I am good, besides not knowing how I got back in my bed." She smirked lazily at him. "Something happened didn't it?" her tone came off as almost bored. He knew that either she was hiding her emotions, or perhaps this has happened too many time to her. Perhaps a mixture of the two.

"You tried to kill yourself in your sleep." He turned and looked at her. There was little emotion in his voice, and he figured being blunt was the best option. She looked at him and bit down on her lip. She sat waiting for him to say more. "You called me Joso, and then said that I would not be able to stop you, then you tried to bite through you wrist." She looked at him for a long moment then sighed and turned her gaze away from him.

"Aa, I see. I take it Tsunade came and healed me?" She asked with out looking at him.

"Hn." He grunted as he watched her. They sat once again in strained silence, that was until Sakura tended to her bowl once again and inhaled more of the drug.

"I never took you for one to get high." Kakashi mused as he watched her exhale. She looked at him with a dropping eye lid.

"It helps, it soothes pains, anxiety, cognitive issues. As I said medicinal." She smirked. Kakashi hummed next to her. "Plus it really makes food taste amazing." She laughed lightly.

"I couldn't tell by all the moaning," He smirked at her.

"Yeah well it had been a long time since I had tempura or dango." She sat and furrowed her brow. "Actually the last time that I had any was when I was in the hospital. Genma would sneak it to me occasionally, that was until Tsunade found out. She flung him half way across the village. He stopped bringing me it after that." She shrugged and sighed. Kakashi remained silent. This was the first time she had brought up what had happened to her at all. He slowly looked over at her and she was leaning against the house her eyes closed and a small smile on her face.

"Why the fuss over tempura and dango?" Kakashi shook his head. Then he looked over at her again she still had her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

"Specialized diet. Higher protein, high fat, little bits of carbohydrates. Actually I am surprised that Sasuke didn't flip over the rice and apple. Probably because you were there." She shrugged as her smile widened like a kid that got away with eating all the cookies out of the cookie jar. Kakashi tried to stop smiling but couldn't help it. She had always had an infectious smile.

"It must be claustrophobic." He said softly. At that Sakura's eye slowly slid open.

"Hm?" She hummed as she looked him over.

"It seems that Sasuke and Tsunade are always around. Telling you to do something or not do it. It has to be suffocating." He watched as she slowly licked her lips and bit down lightly on the bottom. She took a breath then shook her head.

"They are just trying to help... It was hard to get back to normal. It still is... But they do tend to hover a little too much for my liking." She rubbed her eye. While the conversation had become strained at points, now an uncomfortable silence fell over them. It had turned to a subject that Kakashi wasn't sure she would be willing to talk about. Though he had decided already that he was going to ask.

"How is it hard?" He asked slowly. She just sighed and once again closed her eye, letting her head fall back against the house.

"Everything, everything is hard. Living is hard, dealing with my mission is hard, dealing with all the shit that is wrong is hard, trying to remember all the time is hard. Trying to be the person I was before I came back." She looked past him. Once again speaking in code. Though he was surprised that she was talking. Even if she wasn't giving him straight forward answers. He figured that she knew that he knew some details. "I am just tired, and I feel so old. You want to know what my idea of a good time now is... Or would be if I ever got around to it. I want to drink tea, in a fluffy robe or house coat, sitting in a rocking chair on my porch with a book. Though as you can see I lack the rocking chair, and fluffy robe, and the day off." She let out a sad laugh. "How many twenty somethings do you know who that is their dream day off." She lazily looked at him. '

"I think that sounds lovely." He said with a soft smile.

They sat on the porch and chatted for a few more hours. Well Kakashi chatted and Sakura continued to get stoned. Though her guard was slowly wearing down. She never said anything more about what was going on with her, or what happened during her capture. Kakashi kept on thinking that he should ask, but she seemed to be happy and he didn't want to be the one to break that for her. Though as the time went on one question kept haunting him. So as the conversation hit a comfortable lull, he decided to man up and ask.

"Sakura?" He looked down at her. At this time she had moved to sit on the floor as she was having a difficult time balancing on the railing. She looked up to were he was perched on the railing a soft smile on her face.

"Yeah." She drawled.

"The other day, when you were fighting with Sasuke. You said that you are not going o be here in three years. What did you mean?" He swallowed thickly as he watched her face fall and a blank look take over. She narrowed her glassy red eye and slowly shook her head.

"You know I am really tired. I think that I'll be heading to bed." She slowly pulled herself up. "Thank you for dinner." She was trying to dismiss him. He just sighed.

"Should you be sleeping alone?" He asked softly as she began to walk into the house. She slowly turned to look at him.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. There is always an ANBU at my window. Actually look up there" She pointed to the tree off in the side yard. You had to look closely, but there indeed was a white mask. Kakashi frowned as he looked at the ANBU. He should have been able to detect them.

"This one is wickedly good at hiding his chakra. Like even in sage mode Naruto only see's him as a blip." She smirked. "Night Kakashi." He sighed as she began to walk inside.

"Good night Sakura." He said. He quickly walked off of her porch. He knew that he should be going home to get some rest, but the night seemed prime to run some errands and do a little digging.


	6. Chapter 6

He quickly gathered what he needed in the village, which since it was past closing time he was grateful that he had so many people that owed him favors. Truth be told he only lied about helping little old ladies half the time or so. So after all those years many people had owed him for helping out their little old grannies, or getting cats out of trees. He cashed in a few of them that night. He quickly placed the products he had purchased at their intended place then ran to the hospital.

The building he stood in front of was the bane of his existence. He could dies a very happy man if he never had to step foot in to the halls of hell that was the hospital. Taking a deep breath he entered the building. The nurse that was running the reception eyed him for a moment before asking if he needed anything. He just smiled at her and said he was there to visit a friend. She gave a small nod and went back to the paper work in front of her. Kakashi just smiled and walked further in. He almost sighed in relief when he saw several doctors, civilian doctors, gathered talking. Well this may be easier then expected. He walked quickly to the group feigning anxiety. Harshly he bumping into one. They all stopped talking and stood there watching him.

"Oh, I am sorry. I just need to find a comrade. An ANBU unit that was brought in recently." He said in a worried voice. There was always some one from ANBU at the hospital, whether for minor or major injuries. The woman doctor that was standing next to him just laid a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Are you talking about Cat's team?" Huh, Yamato's team is here. Well maybe he would have to stop by. Concern painting his face he gave a small nod. "Well it was nothing serious, but they are being held for the night. They are in room 304 and 306." She patted his shoulder. He gave her a small smile then turned to leave. He shoved his hands into his pockets and ran his finger over the smooth plastic of the key card he had just swiped. He walked straight until he was sure that no eyes were following him and then found the stairwell and descended down into the records department.

Once he was standing in front of the locked room, he hesitated. He was about to invade the woman he loved privacy. She did not want to tell him what was wrong with her, but he couldn't accept that. No it was better that he knew, he thought to himself. After all they were partners now, and he needed to know what to watch out for. Yes it was for her safety, not because he couldn't help being caught in the dark. With those thoughts he ran the plastic card through the electronic lock and waited for the sharp click of the door opening.

He walked in and sighed, filing cabinet after filing cabinet filled the room. On one side boxes were stack five high. This may take longer then he expected. It took him ten minutes to find the cabinet that should house her files. He went through all of the H's several times, but there was no Sakura Haruno. The only Haruno file that he found was her late step fathers. He pulled it out for a moment and flipped through it. Nothing of interest was in his file, only that he was killed. He placed the file back and ran a hand through his hair. He found his eyes roaming over to the boxes that lined the room. He slowly walked over and began reading each box. After walking a few steps he saw it. The box that had Haruno Sakura written on the side. He pursed his lips. Her file was too large to keep in a cabinet.

He pulled the box out and silently made it to one of the lone tables that were located in the back of the room. He set the box down with a soft thunk making small swirls of dust fly up in the air. He stood for a moment and just looked at the box, once again questioning if it was his right to look into it. He pushed the thoughts to the side as he pulled the top off. He looked down into it. The contents making his brow furrow. While yes, there were quite a few manila folders in it, there were also several scrolls. He picked one up and looked at it, not just scrolls these were sealed scrolls. He ran his fingers along the sides. There was no way he as going to be able to open these. No they were chakra infuses, and would only opened to who had sealed them. He grunted and places the scroll down.

He pulled out the folders and placed them on the table. The first few contained information of when she was younger. The second folder made him cringe as he opened it. There sat pictured of a six year old Sakura, an eye swollen and bruised shut. Scraps and bruises scattered all over her face. Her hair frazzled and sticking up in all directions. Her face, she looked so sad. He saw pictures of her arms, legs, stomach, and back, all bruised and cut up. Kakashi looked to the date. This was the same date that was on her late step fathers death certificate. Reading the descriptions of the injuries and how they were caused made him bite down on his lip. Kakashi pushed the file away. This was not what he came to look for, and he really had no right to look at these. Well he had no right to really look at any of these.

After flipping threw a few more folders he found the one that was the beginning of what he was looking for. He looked over the information of the physical that she received prior to her wedding. She was healthy as a horse. The only not at the bottom was a not stating that he egg count was off, and seemed to be sterile due to past wounds. Kakashi's brow furrowed. He flipped through the other pages to look for the diagnostic test that had to due with it, but found nothing. Perhaps those were sealed in one of the scrolls.

The next folder was dated a little under two years later. He licked his lips before he slowly opened it. The moment his eyes met the glossy photos his stomach dropped and he could feel the bile rising. Quickly he pulled down his mask and took a deep breath.

The first picture he picked up was of Sakura's face. Her eyes were closed and a pillow was behind her head. There was the burn scar, though it was far more red and in the earlier stages of healing. The other side of her face was a mixture of blues, purples, and sickly greens. Her jaw seemed to have been swollen twice it's side. The gashes on the nose remained open and raw. He slowly ran his finger over her bruised and battered face. If he was a man that cried, there would have been tears flowing, but he only felt as if he had swallowed a rock. The next image was of her arm, this was also littered with burn scars and opened cuts. His eyes focused at her wrist, which was a dark purple that circled around a dark whole in the center of her wrist. He flipped to the next which was of her back. Along her spin bruises dotted with dark holes in the center. What were theses? He squinted as he looked at them, but he couldn't figure out what would have caused them. The next picture was of her legs, old scars ran up them, what drew his eyes were the scars that encircled her legs at three different points. Theses scars were deep and a dark purple. He quickly flipped to the last, which was her stomach and torso. He was grateful that some one had thought of her modesty and had thought to place fabric on her breasts, even though that was the first place he looked at.

There was the burn scars that ran over her body, but there was also a long angry red line that started from her clavicle and went down to her pelvis. It looked like she was essentially gutted. Now Kakashi had to swallow hard at the vomit he felt was rising. There was also a deep purple scar that looped around her waist. How could she survive all of this? Kakashi took the pictures and flipped them over. He turned his attention to the charts and notes.

Patient Haruno Sakura admitted after being found in the woods. There were several deep lacerations on all limbs of her body that had deep rooted infections. Holes deep enough to go down to the bone located on wrists, spine, and hip. While heavily bruised they were not infected. All ribs were fractured. Left hip dislocated. left arm fibula broke in three places. Several hair line fracture to the skull. Jaw fracture. Both ankles sprained. Internal bleeding in stomach cavity due to rupturing of old injuries. Perforations of large intestine. Septus beginning to set in. Enlarged spleen, and swollen kidneys. Scarring around all organs Eye anomaly. Pressure on the brain.

Immediate treatment started.

Kakashi closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He personally had been through the wringer on multiple occasions, but had never faced that much at once. It truly is unbelievable that she had made it through. He read through the description of the healing. All of it chakra based. It seemed Tsunade was concerned that opening her up would have been too much for her system. They had lost her three times over the course of four weeks, but she came back. Sakura had always been a fighter. He continued to look over her treatments and her progress, but this was not what he was looking for either. He needed to know what was wrong with her now. He placed the photos and the charts back into the folder and lifted the next one.

He opened it up and there were several scans of her body and a few of her brain. He quickly put those to the side, he had no clue how to read those. So he went to the papers underneath.

Patient is having a difficult time with memory, and telling what is real and what is not. Several episodes were she thought she was in a different place or time. She seemed to have a hard time recognizing people. While the scans do no show this, I believe that this is early Alzheimer, or Dementia. Check up should be done every three months to determine deterioration and adjust medications and diet.

She really was forgetting everything. Kakashi swallowed thickly, and he could feel a burning in his eye. He blinked surprised by the liquid that fell. He was crying, he was crying because now he really was going to loose her. He took a shaky breath and continued to read.

Brain deterioration had continued, thought slower then expected. The scan still do not match with a patient that has Alzheimer or Dementia. We have ran several tests but nothing has shown why the brain is shutting down. A caregiver brought up at one time there was a duel personality which seems to no longer be active. Perhaps that is the cause? Upped the dosage of medication and cut back sugars and carbohydrates. Also patient had included cannabis, through vapors, smoking and oil.

Wait.. What happened with her other personality? Kakashi scratched the back of his neck as a small smirk pulled his lips. Sasuke. Sasuke was trying to figure this out. He was going to have to have another talk with his old student, if he could help. Kakashi went onto the next folder. and was shocked to see that they milky way eye was not a transplant, but was indeed hers. How could her eye change so drastically? None of that was answered in the files but there seemed that there was pressure building in the eye. Which was treated using the cannabis as well.

The rest of the reports went over old scar tissue inside and out old bone breaks and some slight changes with bone density. They also thought that there may have been some type of fibromyalgia, though once again the tests do not fall in line even if all the symptoms do. What he got out of it, was she was constantly in pain and uncomfortable every day. He shook his head. She shouldn't be on missions. Like Sasuke said she should be fixing herself. What could be so important that she would ignore these problems? At that point he got angry. Not just angry at her, but of Tsunade and anyone else that knew the extent of what she was going through. They should be figuring out how to fix her brain, fix her body. The reports were still vague but there was nothing more for him to read. He sighed and snapped the folder shut. He had some of his answers and he still had more that he wanted to do tonight. He placed the folders back into the box and stared at the scrolls for a moment more. Those held the most answers and he knew it, but there ws no wy he could open them. Perhphs if he took them and picked t them but it was not guaranteed that he could open them. He let out a long breath and placed the top on the box and returned it to where it belonged.

He left the hospital, slipping the card key into a doctors lab coat that he walked past. Yeah sure it wasn't the same doctor, but they would be able to figure it out. Well he assumed they would anyways.

Kakashi found himself slowly walking through Konoha, all haste had left him. His mind kept going back to the medical records. She wasn't going to be here in three years because of the mysterious Alzheimer like illness she had. Yes, physically she would be here, but not here mentally. He sighed and ran his hand down his face. How was he going to sit there and watch her fade away? What was going to happen once her condition became worse? Who was going to care for her? Then he thought to the diagram Sasuke was working on. How far was he with that? What had he figure out? He would have to get together with him soon. He bit his lower lip, he realized that this was beyond his worst night mare. He would much rather come home to find her pregnant and happy with Sasuke. At this point he would have done anything for that ending rather then this. He always thought that she deserved more, but she really did deserve so much more then what had and is happening to her. What really made it worse for him was she was taking it with such grace. She had not complained about any of it. She just kept moving forward. He felt useless. Shaking his head of the though, no he wasn't useless. He was going to make sure that she used the time she had to the fullest, and he would be there for her no matter what. He would also remind her to live for herself sometimes. Shaking his head he continued on to finish what he had planned for the night.

It was dawn when Sakura opened her front door to leave for the day. He watched as she turned and locked the door then began to walk down the steps of her porch. Smiling he kept his eyes trained on her and loudly cleared his throat causing her to jump.

"Kakashi! You almost gave me a heart attack. What are you doing here?" She asked as she grabbed her chest.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." He said as he sat down on one of the two rocking chairs that sat on her porch.

"What are those?" Sakura asked as she slowly pulled herself back onto the porch.

"I think that we need a day off." He said as he rocked a bit.

"You bought me rocking chairs?" She asked as she put her hand on the one closest to her and gave it a small push.

"Hmmm." He hummed and then reached for the bag that was besides him. "Got you this also." He held the package to her. She took it slowly and reached into it. She pulled out a fluffy robe with little images of pugs on it. She tried to control the smile on her face as she ran her hand over the plush fabric. "There is also this, and I have tea. It's the tea from the volcano fields in fire." She was now smiling widely as she took the other bag from him as pulled out three books. One a medical text, the next and adventure type book and the last the first copy of Icha Icha. She snorted as she looked down at the orange book.

"You got me porn?" She looked up at him.

"Not porn, romance. You never know you might like it." He smiled broadly at her. She just shook her head.

"Why are you doing this Kakashi?"

"Because you deserve the chance to have a nice day off. Now go put on your robe, I can make the tea." He stood from his rocking chair. The smile slowly fell from her face.

"I have things I need to do. I can't take a full day off." She furrowed her brows and looked down. Kakashi just took a deep breath and took a step towards her. He put his finger under her chin and lifted it so he could look into her eye.

"Then take the morning. I said I thought your idea was lovely and I really think you need to indulge yourself once in a while." He smiled down at her. Her eyes were soft as she looked at him. She closed her eye and nodded.

"Come on in and make your tea." She smiled softly as she unlocked her house and walked to her room. He followed her in and went into the kitchen. He quickly found the kettle and brought the water to a boil A few moments later Sakura came down stairs and she was in her cherry patterned pajama pants and had her new robe over a tight white tank top. Kakashi smirked at her as he handed her a tea cup and poured her some of the beverage.

"Shall we?" He asked as he gestured to the porch. She smiled at him and nodded. They both took their seat and began to rock slowly. Sakura picked up the orange book and leaned back. The smile on her face not leaving once.

They sat for hours reading and sipping their tea. Kakashi watched her out of the corner of his eye, a small smirk never leaving his lips. Looking at her he pulled his mask down slowly and took another sip of tea. This time he didn't pull it back up, he left the fabric pooled around his neck. He watched her for a few more moments but then returned to his copy of Icha Icha.

It took almost five minutes before he heard the sharp intake of breath. He slowly turned his head and looked over at her. She sat staring at him, her mouth open and her eye narrowed on him.

"Is there something wrong Sakura-chan?" He asked as he cocked his head, a small frown pulling on his mouth. Her eye widened as it roamed his face. She stood up from her seat and walked over to him. Pinching his chin in between her thumb and fore finger she began to gently push his head side to side. She narrowed her eyes onto his lips before he found her fingers pushing them back. He was slightly taken back when she clicked her tongue at him and frowned.

"There is nothing wrong." Her voice was cold. Kakashi looked up to see her eyes cold as she looked down at him. "There is nothing wrong. What are you hiding? Your strong squared jaw? Straight nose? Full lips? Yeah I mean you have teeth like Kiba, but that isn't unattractive. Not even a mole or a single scar." She glared at him. OK this was not the turn out he had expected. He knew he wasn't an ugly man, and a lot of people thought that he was very attractive. This was the first time that he had ever had some one get angry at him for pulling down his mask. "Why? Why hide yourself?" She sneered. Then she dropped her henge. "This! This is what needs a mask!" He kept his gaze on her eye, though he could see the scars taking form on her skin. His jaw clenched as he saw her water line fill with tears. He grabbed her hand, and was grateful that she did not pull back. Then the tears began to roll out of her eye, her brow furrowed as her frown deepened. "I am sorry, I just thought... I should get going."

"Sakura, sit down." He said softly. She just stood staring at him. "Please sit down." She hesitantly sat down. "I did not intend to upset you, I didn't think you would react like that." He grimaced and looked away from her.

"I am sorry." she whispered.

"No, don't apologize, there is nothing for you to apologize for. Going through what ever you went through, that must have been beyond hard and devastating... I can understand your reaction. I wasn't expecting it, but I can understand." He smiled at her and gave her hand a light squeeze. She was still warily looking at him but slowly touched his face. It took all of his will power to not lean into her hand .

"You have dimples." He smirked and nodded. "Why do you wear it?" She asked as her hand continued to inspect his face.

"It's really a childish and silly thing." He frowned a bit. "My mother passed when I was young, around three perhaps I just turned four. Anyway, when she left it was winter, and my father was always dressing my in turtle necks. Well I would pull them over my face. It was a comfort thing, like having a blanket to hold onto. I just never out grew it. It works well though, I have been told that I have an expressive face." He smiled at her. He watched her and could see the smile she was trying to suppress.

"Oh... That was nothing like any of the theories that every one has about it." He smile began to drop at her words.

"Aa, yes, everyone always seems to have some dramatic back story for me." He winked. "I am a pretty simple man." She hummed as she dropped her hand from his face. She walked over and took her seat, pulling up her henge as she did so. She once again got her book out and began reading. Kakashi just smiled at her and followed suit.

They continued to sit on the porch for a few more hours, and a few more kettles of tea. They didn't talk anymore but just sat and enjoyed each others company. At one point he reached out and placed his hand over hers on the arm rest of her chair. She slowly looked up but he was still reading his book, and the only reaction that he gave was a slight squeeze to her hand. Her brow furrowed as she smiled and shook her head. The moment she looked back to her book Kakashi's face exploded into a wide smile. She had not withdrawn at any of the contact that they had shared that morning.

It was mid afternoon when Sakura sighed and put her book down. "I really have to get to the Hokage's tower." She breathed out as she rubbed her eye. She looked over at him with a soft smile. "Thank you for this Kakashi. It means... a lot. That you would indulge me." He smiled and nodded at her as she stood and stretched. A series of pops coming from her joints. "I need to go get changed. As cute as the robe is, I don't think that it is acceptable to meet with the Hokage." She smirked before walking into her house. Kakashi watched as she left then gathered the tea cups and let himself inside her house. He washed the cups and kettle and just as he finished drying them Sakura was walking gown the stairs in her tight black long sleeved shirt and loose olive green cargo pants. "Oh you really didn't need to do that." She watched him put away the cups. He just shrugged and turned to look at her.

"It's not a problem, it's not like washing cups is all that difficult. I'll walk with you to, it's near were I needed to go anyways." He once again lied. No he didn't have any running he was planning to do that day. His actual plans were to throw himself down on his bed. Not sleeping for more then a day and a half was starting to catch up.

"Oh, ok." She said as she grabbed a bag off of one of her kitchen chairs as he pulled his mask back up. "Let's get to it." She nodded towards the door. Kakashi followed her outside and waited as she set her seals and locked the door. They walked in comfortable silence as they watched the daily life of the village around them. People were out walking the streets, shopping, running errands, tending to gardens, it was a peaceful sight. Kakashi's attention was drawn to the roof as he watched an ANBU team leap from house to house.

"You know it really was a surprise to see you in ANBU." Kakashi said absent mindlessly.

"Hmm?" Sakura hummed as she looked over at him.

"You being in ANBU. Well... it is surprising." He shrugged his shoulder and shoved his hand into his pockets.

"Why is that?" A small frown on her lips as she knitted her brows. "You didn't think that I was strong enough?"

"No, not that at all." He let out a long sigh. "Honestly I was hoping that you and Naruto would never join. I was once told that to be in ANBU there had to be a darkness with in you, and I just never wanted that for you or him. While I was in ANBU it was a hard time in my life. I felt as if all I was, or could be, was a killer. The depths of darkness that over took me, well... It is not an experience that I would want to have you go through. For a while I felt as if it took all my humanity away. " He kept his eyes forward as he walked. Sakura just looked up at him with wide eyes. He never was one to talk about his past or really how he was feeling and she was a little overwhelmed with all the information that he was giving her today.

"Why are you telling me these things?" She asked as she arched a brow.

"I would like for you to know me, and I would like to know you. Isn't this something that friends do?" He asked as he scratched his neck.

"Yeah, but you never were interested in knowing me before." She sighed. He winced a bit at her words. He was interested in knowing her, but he was too much of a coward to attempt anything, and that was one mistake that he wanted to rectify.

"You are wrong, we just never had the time." He smiled as he looked at her, his eye creasing. She smirked and lightly shook her head.

"Well this is were I get off." She said as they walked to the stairs leading up to the Hokage tower. "We are training tomorrow, so I will see you at seven right?" She asked over her shoulder while she began to climb the stairs. Kakashi just nodded and brought two fingers up to wave farewell. Smiling he turned to walk back to his apartment. Sleep was calling his name and he was going to answer that call.

The next morning Kakashi walked to the training field and once again Sakura was already there in her meditative stance. He took to a tree and waited quietly until she was done. After a few moments she looked up and smiled.

"Shall we do this?" She yelled up as she stood, Kakashi just nodded and hoped on down.

"No holds bar today?" She asked as she raised her brow.

"Sure, come at me." He smiled then quickly dissipated in a poof of smoke. She did what he expected, cracked the ground under her to see if he took to the earth. After she inspected the area, she stood for a moment and looked as if she was contemplating something. That was when he saw her pull off her eye patch and begin to scan the area. She found him quickly and started forming hand signs quickly. Suddenly out of the earth shot out an earth dragon. It came barreling into to the tree he was perched. He dodged it just as it smashed itself onto the limb he had just vacated. As he made hand signs to release his lightening hounds, he watched as she pulled out two scrolls. Her hands moving quickly when suddenly two ink rhinos and two ink crocodiles popped out of the scrolls and intercepted his dogs. It seemed Sai had prepared scrolls for her. Guess that is what Sasuke meant but her having him wrapped around her finger. He couldn't help but wince as the crocodile's jaw snapped shut on the head of his hound.

He used all elements against her and she sent them back to him with out an issue. While she was indeed using her chakra, it was only half the time. The rest of the battler she was sending jutsus off of scrolls at him. If only she wasn't taking that chakra blocker, he thought as he kicked aside an ink lemur. They fought hard, and by the time they were done Kakashi could feel that his chakra was running low. Not really sleeping for a few days also started to take it's toll. Sakura ended the spar by baiting him close to the small stream and them pounding him down with a water dragon. Kakashi conceded at that point.

Sakura lazily walked over to her back and pulled out her pills and some jerky. She tossed him some which he was grateful for since once again he had skipped breakfast.

"We have a mission in three days." Sakura panted as she finished drinking her water bottle.

"What?" He asked as he pulled down his mask. Her eyes widened for a moment before she shook her head. He just smirked at her. "I was told that there was a mandatory month off." She sighed and shrugged.

"Time sensitive stuff. We will be living in three days at dawn. I'll get you a scroll then." He nodded at her.

"Why was I not called in for the mission briefing?" He knitted his brows.

"Did Tsunade not explain?" She questioned as she bit off a piece of jerky.

"Explain what?" He asked as he ran his hand over his jawline. Sakura sighed as she chewed.

"Let's just say that we are in a covert division on ANBU. And I am the head of the division. This is your mission briefing."

 **As always I would like to thank you all for taking time out and reading my story. It means a ton to me so Thank you!**

 **I debated whether or not I wanted to acknowledge a review from a "guest." Of course it was not positive, and I am cool with less then stellar feed back. So your comment about the "ship" doesn't bother me. I could care less. I could care less also if a key board warrior thinks that I am a loser. What ever. I am also sorry to disappoint you with the fact that I do not intend to kill myself any time soon. I will leave you with this though: I pray to what ever god, spirit, or luck that you believe in that you do not have to feel the pain of a loved one killing themselves. To wish that on anyone is beyond the lowest thing that can be said. It is lower then scum. I do wish you a happy life though, because I would not wish that pain on anyone, including the people around you. You probably don't care. So continue to troll on, and I hope that it gives you a peace of mind to be rude when reading some fan fiction, because that it soo cool.**

 **So I am probably going to be a bit late getting chapters out on all my stories. I usually write during the time that my son does his ABC mouse. Well, his tablet just kicked the bucket. It was a sad day in my house, he is now using my laptop to do his program. So now writing is going to have to happen when he is asleep and I don't have a ton of house hold things to do. I will try to get something out, but unfortunately I cannot promise anything.**

 **RIP tablet...**


	7. Chapter 7

Kakashi left the training field frustrated and annoyed... Scratch that he was pissed. In all his years as a ninja he had never been placed on a mission with absolutely no information given. Yes, while in ANBU he might have been given little information, a name of a target, but not the reason for the death to be ordered. That was fine, it was something, it was a string to hang on to. What had Sakura told him about this mission that they were leaving on? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Only the day that they would be leaving. He tried to get her to give out any information, but she just said that he would receive a scroll upon their departure. Hell, he didn't even know where they were going. He grit his teeth as he jumped from roof to roof to his apartment.

He threw open the door of his apartment and slammed it shut with a huff. Perhaps a shower would help calm him? So he undressed the letting his cloths fall as he walked to his bathroom. The pelting water did help relieve his tired muscles but did nothing about his foul mood. He stood there under the falling water staring at the white tiles of his shower. He felt as if he was being treated like a genin, not trusted. Told to just blindly follow. That was not something that he was known to do. Not for a long time that is. Seriously, he had proven his worth to his village... well, it seemed he did not with her... He sighed as a shiver ran up his back causing goose bumps to raise on his skin. The water was beginning to chill, he had spent too much time spacing out.

He quickly got himself dressed, then gathered the clothes on the floor tossing them into the hamper. He stood in the middle of his living room and looked around. He was restless but he didn't know what to do. There really was no need to clean his apartment, he was good on groceries, he just got back from training, and for some reason Icha Icha just didn't sound appealing. Frowning he threw himself on the couch and turned on the TV. There was nothing on that was interesting, but he kept flickering through the channels to see if there was something he missed. By the time he cycled through all of his options four times, he gave up and just left on a documentary about elephants on.

He laid on the couch and just stared at the TV, just staring but not watching. His mind kept going back to the fact that his partner was withholding information. All the fucking information. Not just about the mission either. About everything that was happening. He glared at the elephant who was rolling in the mud on the screen. At least some one was having a good time.. Fucking elephant. His agitation at the large mammal was broke when the sharp knock at his door made him jump. Before he had the chance to even respond his door opened and in stalked Genma.

"Hey Hatake," The man walked over and flopped down on the arm chair next to the couch.

"Why, yes Genma come in and make yourself right at home." Kakashi said flatly, raising his brow as he looked over at the senbon user.

"Pft, I knew you were home and that you would probably ignore the knocking." He smirked as he pushed the ever present senbon from one side of his mouth to the other.

"Probably right." he sighed as he let his head fall back onto the arm rest and closed his eyes.

"Elephants huh?"

"Yup."

There was a few moments of silence, Kakashi just laid on the couch with his eyes closed and Genma pretended to be interested in the development of an elephant calf. Kakashi finally let out a long sigh and looked over at Genma.

"What do you need?"

"What? I can't visit a friend?"

"Hmmm."

"Okay... Gai found out that you are back. He's a little hurt that he hasn't seen you yet, so he wants to get everyone together and head out to bar." Kakashi cringed at the mention of his rival. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Gai, it was just that since the war ended he didn't know how to act around the man. For well over twenty years he was use to seeing him jumping around and running as if he had all the energy in the world. To see the man confided to a wheel chair... it seemed unatural.. and he didn't want to look at him with pitty. "Don't try to get out of this Hatake. He was seriously hurt. I mean the man cried rivers. Literal rivers when he found out."

"Fine what bar?" Kakashi sighed as he sat up.

"Aa... The Falling Leaf. It's on the other side of the village." Genma stood up and stretched smiling down at his friend. "I'll come over and pick you up around eight thirty." Kakashi nodded and watched as Genma walked to the door and waved before leaving.

"KAKASHI! My dear rival has come back to the village! The leaves of our beautiful village drooped with sorrow to have one of it's brightest and strongest leafs gone for such a long time!" Gai yelled as Kakashi entered the bar, pushing his wheelchair over in a vigorous manner. Kakashi smiled and raised his hand to greet the man. While he use to enjoy pretending to not hear him, just to rile him, he now felt that it was a little inappropriate.

"Yo."

"Ah, still soo cool Ka-Ka-shi! Come follow me. We will drink with our comrades and celebrate your return in a youthful manner." He grinned at him and then lifted his hand and giving Genma and him a strong thumbs up. Kakashi just shook his head and followed after Gai. Nothing could hold the man down, now even a wheel chair. They moved through the busy bar to the back of where several tables had been pushed together. It seemed that Gai had gathered most of their comrades. Kakashi waved his hand as he took a seat at the table. Kurenai, Anko, Iruka, Shizune, and Tenzo turned and smiled their welcome.

It was nice to be sitting there in the bar not thinking. Just drinking and listen to his comrades talking to each other. It was a break he wasn't aware that he needed.

"So what have you been up to since you got back Kakashi?" Kurenai asked as she sipped a brightly colored drink.

"Nothing much, been training getting back into the groove of things." He shrugged as he filled up his sake dish again.

"Ah, he has also been hanging around the cyclops. I see you two at the training fields." Anko barked out as she pushed her chair back so it was balancing on the two back legs. Her arms up with her hands behind her head. He let out a sigh, he didn't really want to talk about Sakura right now.

"Come on Anko, you know she doesn't like to be called that." Tenzo sighed. Kakashi glanced over to see a frown pulling at Genma's mouth as he swirled his drink around.

"Aa, well training usually does take a partner." He shrugged. Tenzo furrowed his brows as he looked over.

"Wait. You two are partners?" The wood user asked as he raised a brow.

"Classified."

"Ha! That means you are! Ohh you'll have some fun with that one Hatake! You know what her nickname is right?" Anko yelled down the table.

"Anko enough." Everyone at the table turned to see a stern looking Gai glaring at the snake user. "She is doing the best that she can." His tone was low as he held Anko's gaze. Kakashi eyed the two with muted surprise. It had been a long time since he had seen Gai come off as angry.

"Lighten up wheels. It's not like I was not going to say anything that hasn't been said. Plus, ol one eye deserves to know when he is getting into. Hell it would have been nice to know before. Right Genma? Woods?" She huffed as she slammed down her chair on all four legs. Kakashi let his gaze retract from Anko and Gai over to Tenzo and Genma who were currently scowling at the woman. Her gaze followed Kakashi's and she sighed as she looked at the two men. "Come on, I am not being a bitch. You two know I am behind her. I will always help... but shit being partnered with the suicide queen, well tha..."

"Anko I said that is enough." Gai slammed his hand down.

"Suicide queen?" Kakashi asked as he looked at his comrades who just looked at him with pity. "Why are you calling her that?" He ran his hands through his hair and let his eye stay on Anko. She looked over at him then let her eyes flicker to Gai who was sitting with a deep scowl and his arms crossed over his chest.

"Nothing forg..."

"Because completing what she is doing is more important then her life. She will most likely die out in the field. It's just a drawn out death. She will also die before anything will happen to her partner, or kill herself trying to save them. She holds no regard for her life any more." Genma took a long draw of his drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Kakashi could only sit there and frown at the men. The table grew quite as they all avoided looking at each other, especially at Kakashi.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Kakashi finally growled out. Slowly each person looked at him with a guarded blank face.

"It means that you are not in any regular partnership. No, and you will hear this when you leave on your first mission, or scouting. You are meant to make sure that she is ok, but your life comes before hers. You are not to risk anything for the girl. That if she dies then you seal her or destroy her body. That is why you are there, not to help her, no, to hide whatever secrets she is carrying." Anko took a hearty swig out of her bottle and looked at the faces around her. She put her bottle down with a loud thunk. "What? It's all the truth. That's why we couldn't cut it." She shrugs. "No one wants to sit back and watch her die." She said in a low voice. Kakashi let his eyes wander the table. Everyone was looking away. Then he met Tenzo's gaze who also had a frown on his face.

"The cherry blossom of the Leaf is made of steel. What she does is to protect the village. All of us would give our life for Konoha. I trust that she knows what she needs to do. Every breath that fills her passionate bossum is used trying to rid a threat to us. She is not throwing her life away." Gai said solemnly.

"So you know what it is that she is looking for?" Kurenai looked at Gai with a brow raised.

"I am afraid I do not. Though it must be important."

"Ahh speaking of Cyclops. Over here Sakura!" Anko stood from her seat and waved her arms. Kakashi looked over to see the pink haired woman stalking over the table flanked by Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin.

"Hey, sorry to crash your get together." Sakura said with a tight smile. Kakashi just looked at the girl. He couldn't even force a fake smile on his face. The previous conversation was deeply disturbing and his stomach was in knots from it. No he couldn't smile if what they said was true.

"Aa sweet blossom, no need for apologies, you are always welcome to share our table." Gai flashed his teeth in a large smile.

"Thanks Gai." Sakura's smile soften a bit as she looked at the man. "Anyways, Anko, Yamato, I was wondering if you would be ok if I drew another sample?" She fidgeted a bit with the bottom of her shirt as she looked between the two.

"I thought we were good for at least another week." Tenzo said as he rubbed his forehead.

"Yeah, well things came up. Time sensitive stuff so I need another sample a little sooner then I thought." She sighed.

"We have had more then the one drink limit pre draw, Pinky." Anko said as she took another long draw of sake.

"I can make due. But you two will just really need to drink water...or orange juice and eat." She frowned as she took in all the bottled on the table.

"Alright let's get on with it." Tenzo sighed as he pulled up his sleeve. Sakura gave a curt nod and began to pull out her needles and viles. Kakashi just sat and watched her. She glanced over at him and gave a nod and he returned it back. She seemed off, there was no light banter between her and any one, her brow was drawn and her mouth remained pulled into a slight frown. She seemed agitated, and maybe annoyed. She gathered what she needed from the two and placed the vile into her hip pouch. She murmured a thanks to Anko and Tenzo then walked over to him.

"Don't drink too much, we have training in the morning and it will be no holds bar." She said as she narrowed her eyes him.

"Sure thing," He hoped that the confusion that he was feeling didn't come out with his words, but he was pretty sure some of it leaked out. "Is there something wrong?"

"No.. Nothings is wrong. I just don't want a half assed spar." She huffed. He stiffened at her words. What was up her ass?

"Okay, no problem Sakura-chan." He smiled a fake smile his voice smooth and sweet.

"Sensei." She sneered with a small nod and then turned to leave flanked by Sasuke's old team. He watched her leave, frown pulling at his mouth.

"Looks like you are going to have a good time one that mission,"Anko laughed out. The rest of the table rolled their eyes at the woman who was clearing the rest of her sake bottle.

Kakashi woke up at five thirty the next morning. His head was killing him and his tongue felt like cotton in his mouth. He may have had a bit more to drink then he should have. Actually he had a lot more to drink, just to spite her. He groaned as he pulled himself to a sitting position. Spite... How stupid. She wasn't the one that was going to feel like hell the rest of the day. He sighed as he slowly stood and stumbled towards his bathroom.

The shower brought him back to feeling moderately human, but he still had the general sick feeling and the stiffness of his joints. Training today was going to blow. He walked to the training field slowly sipping on the coffee that he picked up on his way. When he got to the field he was surprised to see that Sakura was not meditating like she had done before, but she was throwing Kunai at a tree. He cleared his throat while walking up, she threw her blade then looked over at him. He was a bit taken back at the look on her face. She looked angry and frustrated. She narrowed her eyes as he walked up.

"You ready to go?" She almost growled out. Before he could respond she was coming at him, and was using chakra. He dropped his styrofoam cup and dodged her fist. Then she kept hurling herself at him, missing and hitting the ground making it crack under her. She stood up and was quickly making hand signs when mud hyena's came out of the ground. Kakashi quickly made the signs and his lightening hounds were going after the hyenas. He looked up to see her throwing a scroll out and out popped... unicorns... fucking ink unicorns were stampeding towards him. Quickly he reached into his hip pouch and pulled out his kunias and threw them at the ink creators, a satisfying popping noise filled the air as he landed a blow. She kept on pushing everything that she had at him, and for the most part he would dodge or reflect whatever she was dealing.

It was like she had gone berserk. There was no game plan in her attacks, no she was just attacking as fast and as strong as she could. She kept up the speed and the ferocity for three hours. Kakashi would not admit it but he was getting tired, and he had barely landed any hits on her. Suddenly Sakura let out a long growl and slammed her fist into the ground with such force that it made the trees that were within a few hundred feet sway or fall. Kakashi stilled and watched her wearily.

She crouched panting staring down at her fist, slowly she looked up at him, still glaring.

"I think that we are done for today." She said as she pulled her hand from the crater.

"What is wrong?" Kakashi asked with a sigh. Sakura just glared at him again.

"Nothing." She curtly said as she walked over to where her pack was and pulled out her pill container and water.

"Don't bullshit me Sakura. You were coming at me like a rabid dog just now, and yesterday you were just as agitated." Sakura didn't look at him just kept on drinking her water bottle. Frustrated he grabbed the bottle from her hand causing some to splash on her face.

"What the fuck Hatake?" She glowered at him as she wiped the water off of her face.

"What the fuck Haruno?" He bit back.

"There is nothing fucking wrong! Damn, I am just getting everything set for the damn mission." She violently shoved her pill container back in to her bag and roughly pulled her water bottle from his hands.

"If you told me where the hell we are going and what we are going to do then, I could help you." He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head slowly.

"There is nothing that you can help with. This is all on me." She sighed as she put her pack onto her shoulder. "We are going to Snow. So make sure that you have warm clothes and get some closed toe shoes." She said pointing to his shoes, "Anyways I got to get back to run some tests. See you here again tomorrow at seven." She quickly made the hand seals and teleported away. Kakashi just stood and snorted at the space she left vacant.

It was well know that Saukura used to be temperamental. She didn't have a good hold onto her anger responses, hell half of the people that she healed was because of the damage that she inflicted. That was something that Kakashi could handle, but the mood swings that she was having now... well he felt like he was getting emotional whiplash from them. It would almost be comforting to see her actually yell at some one and throw a punch that would throw them half way across a training field.

The rest of the day he spent getting ready for snow. He had little when it came to warmer clothes and he owned nothing but his shinobi sandals. He didn't enjoy shopping but at least it gave him something to do and take his mind off of a foul mood Sakura.

Too quickly he was done and once again had nothing to do. Yes he could see if Genma wanted to go to the bar, but he had learned his lesson this morning. Sparring with Sakura while hung over is not something that he wanted to repeat anytime soon. So he found himself on the roof of his apartment reading Icha Icha Violence until the sun disappeared. When it was far too dark to make out the words he just lazed and watched the stars make their appearance in the night sky. That was one thing that he missed about being out on a mission. The sky when he wasn't in a large village. There were always so many more stars when he was deep in the woods. He let out a drawn sigh and continued to try and make out the constellations.

He was pulled out of his astrological musings by the sound of sharp breaths. He sat up and looked over the edge of the roof to see Sakura walking quickly to the stair case of his apartment complex. She had a fist to her chest and her shoulders were heaving in sync with the breaths that she was trying to force into her lungs. She quickly made it up the stairs and right as he was going to jump down from the roof he heard the knocking of a door that was not his. No it was Genma's door she was standing at. In between the pounding he could hear her wheezing and murmuring. After she hit the door for the third time, there was a squeal as it opened.

"Ge...Gen.. Genma," her voice sounded panicked as her breath came in harsher.

"Shit Sakura." He heard the quick footsteps then the door closing. Once again the Copy Nin found himself glaring at the space under the roof that was Genma's apartment. He stood there for a few moments before making his way into his apartment. He laid down in bed but sleep would not come. He was pissed off again. He was pissed off that she wouldn't tell him anything. Not about the mission, but about what was going on with her. He was pissed off that she had a stick shoved up her ass today, he was pissed off at her ANBU nick name, and he was pissed off that she was going to see Genma for comfort. Actually he was really pissed off at that. Not that he had any right to be. Yes he wanted to be with her, but he had not said anything about that to her. But to sit there while she was in his apartment seeking out comfort...

He quickly stood from his bed and made his way to his front door. He stopped himself half way between his and Genma's apartment. What the hell was he going to do? Did he have any right to see what was going on? He chewed on his cheek while he looked at the door. No he didn't. She was not his, so could see who ever she wanted. But the panicked breathing is really what concerned him. Perhaps he could just see if she was alright. Yes, that was a good idea. He walked over and knocked on Genma's door,

"Kakashi," Gemna said flatly. The man looked exhausted.

"I saw Sakura walking over. Is she ok?" Kakashi asked as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Genma took a long breath and sighed it out.

"Yeah she is fine. Sleeping, I think right now." He ran his hands through his hair and yawned.

"You think?"

"Yeah, well she is kinda in the closet." He shrugged."I got her to calm down a bit but she seems to feel the safest there." Kakashi nodded. "Is that all?"

"Yeah, yeah. Have a good night." Kakashi smiled at the man and then turned to walk back to his apartment. When he was about a step away from the door he hear a loud laugh from below, he turned and looked over the railing to the street below to see Sasuke walking with two of his former Taka members: Jugo and Suigetsu. Kakashi raised a brow as he watched the three men walk. Sasuke and Jugo were walking quietly while the shark boy was talking animatedly about something. He tapped hin finger on the railing and let out a small hum. He wanted to talk with Sasuke before he left, why not now? He quickly made the hand signs and body flickered in front of the trio.

"Yo." He said with a wave. The three men jumped a bit but quickly regained their composure.

"Kakashi." Sasuke said with a nod. "Is there something that I can do for you?" He raised a brow.

"Ah, yes there is actually. I would like to discuss something with you. Would you like to come up for some tea?" He asked with a hallow smile. He watched as the two other men looked at the Uchiha with raised brows. His dark eyes darted to his companions then back to Kakashi. "Of course your friends are more then welcome to join. I have a feeling that they know about what I wish to discuss." Suigetsu and Jugo just shrugged and Sasuke gave a curt head nod. Kakashi smiled to them then waved a hand to indicate to follow him.

Once they where in the apartment Kakashi quickly set up a kettle for tea and prepared the leaves. "Do any of you want something to eat?" He asked over his shoulder. They all shook their heads. He took another glance at the men. Their faces reminded him of children who had been caught doing something that they should not have been doing. He just smirked and shook his head.

"I am sure that you didn't invite us in for a late night snack. What is it you wish to speak about?" Sasuke asked as he took a seat at the breakfast bar. Kakashi nodded as he placed a cup in front of Sasuke.

"What is going on with Sakura?" He noted that all three tensed at the question. Also it seemed that Jugo was scowling at him.

"Kakashi I already..."

"I know about her memory, I know that the scans are clear, and that they have no idea what is happening. You do though, don't you?" Kakashi leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms in front of him. Sasuke furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes.

"She told you?"

"Not exactly."

"What do you mean by not exactly?" Jugo spoke up, his usual soft lit hard. Kakashi glared back at him, why was he so concerned?"

"I looked at her medical files." Kakashi shrugged pulling the kettle from the burner as it began to whistle and began to pour water into the cups.

"What do you mean you looked at her files? Those are not accessible to the general public." Sasukes eyes hardened as he watched Kakashi serve the tea.

"Come on, what is really not accessible to a ninja?" He watched as all three of them frowned at him. "She's my partner and I need to know what I will be dealing with. No one has said a word to me about what is going on. Do you really thing that I would just back down? What if something happened on a mission and I don't know what to do?" Kakashi began to sip his tea.

"You really have no right to dig in her medical files." Jugo snorted at him. Kakashi raised a brow at the man, who was now breathing deeply.

"What is it to you anyways? Why do you care?" Kakashi asked Jugo, which only seemed to tick the man off even more. Sasuke stood and placed his hand on Jugo's shoulder.

"Perhaps we should take a breath and calm down outside?" Sasuke said in a stern voice while guiding Jugo to the door. "I'll be back in a minute." Sasuke said as he looked back at Kakashi. They quickly left the apartment and now he was stuck sitting with Suigetsu, who had just thrown himself in the chair that Sasuke had vacated.

"Nice man, let's just go piss off Jugo. Not the smartest idea around." Suigestu smirked and took a long draw of tea.

"Why would he get pissed off about Sakura?" He asked while he scratched his chin. The man in front of him just snorted and shook his head.

"Well she has been helping him since we came to this village. She has developed medication for him to help him with his outbursts... Then when she came back... There is just and understanding. It's hard to explain. She calms him down." He said as he ran his hand through his hair. "Anyways, now a days there isn't much that makes him loose it, but one of those things is Pinky. He can be a bit protective, ya know." Kakashi pursed his lips. No he didn't know and that was driving him nuts. He sighed and drank his tea. They sat for a while in awkward silence sipping their tea until Sasuke opened the door. There was no one that followed and Suigestu raised a brow.

"He went home." Sasuke mumbled as he took a seat next to his other friend. "So you went into her medical file? Pretty shady, especially from the likes of you." Sasuke glared at him and crossed his arms over his chest. Kakashi was about to open his mouth when Sasuke raised his hands. "It was her decision not to let too many people know. It was her choice to tell you. You took that away. You who hides behind a mask and never told us anything about himself. Why do you have to right to do that?"

"I want to help. She was not going to let me. She needs the help too. You told me that. When it comes to something like this, well no I will not apologize about what I did." Kakashi bit at the man. Maybe he didn't have a right, but he had to do something. "Anyways there were times that she had me chained to the hospital. This is really not so different." He shrugged. They and glared at each other for a few moments before Sasuke shook his head and leaned back in his chair.

"Why do you think I would know anything."

"Stop with the bullshit already. I read the files it indicated that a care giver thought that there was something wrong because her dual personality was no longer present. You are looking into that right? I saw the notebook you were working on, and out of Tsunade and Genma, you are the one that would remember her inner. Do you have any ideas?" Kakashi cocked his head and narrowed his eyes at the young man who was glaring at him. Sasuke pursed his lips then took a deep breath.

"Yeah I am looking into it. I don't know where I am going. It seems that there is something off with the chakra in her brain, but I can't tell. You know how the sharingan works, it's not like the Hyuga's. I can't see the path ways." Sasuke sighed

"Why doesn't a Hyuga look at her?" At that Suigetsu snorted a laugh. "What?"

"Oh, you don't know." Suigetsu gave a toothy grin at Kakasi. He just looked at the boy with a raised brow waiting for him to continue. "Well you see the leader of the clan, you know the one that looks like he was born sucking on a lemon, well he forbids any member to have contact with her. He is pissed that she has their blood limit, and the fact that she attacked little Hinata-chan and her sister." The young mans grin slowly became a frown as he talked. Kakashi looked from him to Sasuke who was sitting there with a blank face.

"Attacked Hinata? Why would she do that?" Kakashi asked as Sasuke's emotionless eyes met him. It seemed he had reverted back to what he use to be like for this conversation.

"She was confused. In the genjutsu she was under it made her question friends and enemies. I know anyone that she had thought of as close had tried to harm her in the illusion. I know that she still has issues with it now. Though she can control her reaction better. It took months for her to realize that she was home." Sasuke said with out any inflection in his voice. Kakashi frowned at the returning coldness, but as long as he was giving him information he was not going to comment. He slowly nodded at his former student before his brows began to knit together.

"But she said at the bar a few weeks ago that she as training with Hinata." Kakashi asked as he ran his fingers over his chin and watched as Sasuke quirked a brow at him.

"She lies. She didn't want to fight. We both knew it. Haishi would never allow that, and Sakura would never let Hinata risk getting caught. She has tried but Sakura refuses." Sasuke shook his head slightly and slid down into his chair. Kakashi looked over at the other young man who was now drawing with his fingers with the tea leaves in his cup.

"I thought she had the sharingan." Kakshi stated as he took a draw of his tea. This statement caused Sasuke to sigh and close his eyes.

"Yes, but she also have the Byakugan." Sasuke stopped and regarded Kakashi's surprised face. Yeah he knew there was something off about her eye, though he thought that the white flecks in it were from damage, not a blood limit. A long time ago there were a few Uchiha and Hyuga's that reproduced and the off spring would either have one limit or the sharingan in one eye and a byakugan in the other, but never did they over lap each other. Kakashi frowned as he scratched the side of his head.

"How is that possible?" Sasuke took a deep breath.

"That is one of the things that she is attempting to figure out." Sasuke looked up at his old teacher and drew in his bottom lip while his brow knitted. Kakasi knew he was contemplating on what he was going to say next so he just stood and patiently waited. Finally Sasuke shook his head. "Kakashi, that is only the tip of the ice burg. There is a good reason she is working so hard, and if she does fail... That would be disastrous."


End file.
